Sparks
by fayeNOISE
Summary: Chiara Myste has just come to terms with her mutant self and has come to the Xavier 'sanctuary' to escape the UN clutches controlled by her father. But this safehouse school turns out to be a much more risky place to live than she imagines. Chapter 28 UP
1. Prologue: Sparks

---

The stars will cry

The blackest tears tonight

And this is the moment that I live for

I can smell the ocean air

And here I am

Pouring my heart onto these rooftops

Just a ghost to the world

That's exactly

Exactly what I need

---

Chiara walked into school, her shoes squeaking on the black and blue linoleum tiles. Her hair was soaking wet and heavy with water and her uniform was in almost the same condition. The storm outside seemed to be drowning Upper-East-Side Manhattan and she sincerely hoped by the end of school today all the rich old ladies with perfectly groomed snapping dogs and all the delinquent supermodels who lived there would be dead.

The bell rang as she walked quickly through the halls. Students crowded out of class and she hastened to the girls bathroom on the first floor. She pushed her wet hair behind her heavily pierced ears and pushed in through the swinging door. She stared at herself in the mirror, glaring at her reflection.

Her hair hung around her face making her look like a tan teenage Samara. Her grey eyes seemed filled with hatred. She frowned at looked at herself closer in the mirror. Where they turning... blue? Shit. Possibly the only thing she liked about her eyes was the color, and now even that was rebelling against her as well.

She couldn't even believe she'd come to school today. Hiding in the bathrooms while the maids swept would have been easier than showing up to History class looking like a drowned rat.

She squeezed her hair out over one of the sinks, hoping no one would come in and disturb her. She grabbed a handful of paper towls and cleaned up the majority of her eyeliner which had leaked over her face in the rain. Cleaned, she dug her precious eye-pencil out of her bag and began again on outlining her eyes.

The door swung open suddenly, making her jump. Three figures came in. As she looked up, she wished she hadn't.

"Oh... it's just you." came the high, nasal voice of Jenna Rodriguez. Captain of St. Andrew's competetic cheerleading team and royal bitch. She was exactly the person in all those teen flicks who made the poor sad ugly-pretty girl feel like shit. She was followed by her two friends, Marisa and Calla, who were so blonde, so blue-eyed and so bone-exposingly skinny Chiara couldn't tell them apart.

"It'd be a waste of breath to say 'hello' to me, wouldn't it?" Chiara asked, folding her arms. She didn't want to look at them. She turned back into the sink, starting again on the task she'd begun.

"You look tired, Chiara." Jenna said, leaning against the aisle of sinks and smiling at herself in the mirror. Chiara looked up at her. She wasn't even paying attention, just adjusting her light brown hair around her perfect face. "Did you have a busy night?" she asked, finally remembering she was speaking and flashing her reflection a white smile.

Chiara sighed, putting her pencil back in the bag, finished.

"Don't start again." She said. "Please." Jenna seemed unfaltered. The two of them faced each other.

"That's the best you can come up with?" Jenna asked, her perfect lips in a smirk that would have turned on any male beyond the age of nine. "I really thought you would have killed yourself by now, Chiara." she said slowly, knowing how much pain it was causing. Chiara couldn't bare to look at her, she looked back at the mirror, at herself, hating the reflection she saw. Jenna didn't stop there. "I mean. Think about it. Your father's a workaholic bringing in the big bucks, but he barely has time to even remember you exist. Your mother's dead. And you're just their one little mistake and went off and wasted all your," she came closer to Chiara, like a tiger about to pounce, "flowers." she smiled. "What's the point of living? No one likes you. No one even bothers to remember about you." She folded her arms, finally backing away.

Chiara looked over at her again. She didn't have the strength to glare. She felt tears coming. Everything Jenna had said was true, except for the whole deflowering rumor. Chiara, at sixteen years old, was still a virgin and she doubted she could say the same for Jenna.

Three identically evil smiles looked back at her.

"Don't think no one knows, Chiara." Jenna went on. "Late for school. Tired looks. Absensces. It's only obvious what you're doing." Chiara felt the tiniest ray of strength.

"And what," she began, fighting back the urge to scream, "is it, that I am doing, Jenna?"

Jenna glanced upwards. The lights were flickering wildly.

"I think that-" she began, looking back at Chiara and freezing. Her blue eyes blinked in disbelief. She stuttered to talk. Chiara felt confused. The three of them pressed them selves against the wall, frightened. The flourescent lights continued insanely. Chiara felt strongly empowered.

"Are you so insecure that you have to prey upon the one person who doesn't fall for your sweet, stupid disguise!?" she shouted suddenly, sure this would be drawing attention from outside. "Is it worth the effort to make my life so much hell!?" The was a sudden crash behind her, followed by another, and another, and another. Water sprayed everywhere as the sinks broke from the walls. Jenna screamed.

Chiara whirled around to glance back at the damage. Instantly, she was soaked again by the water that spraying from the back of the pipes and over the floor. She caught her reflection in mirror and tried to hold back a scream herself.

Her eyes. They'd become a vivid electric unblinking blue. She tried to tear herself away from her frightening reflection. She stepped back and crashed into the metal stall door which from the door frame, sparking like a cut power line.

Chiara looked back in the mirror, staring at herself in the blue eyes again. She glared at Jenna, Calla and Marisa, about to blame them, but they'd disappeared. The door was a crack open. Chiara pulled the rest of it open, sparks shocking off the door handle, but not seeming to hurt her.

In a split second she was out in the hallway, the lights above flickering. The school was in shadow one moment and the next a lit line of lockers, leading her towards her goal. The door and her escape into the city. Not hesistating to see who was around, she ran.

She crashed out the door and down the steps to the front of the school. She stopped and glanced behind her. A group of horrified students were staring out the windows, pointing and gaping at her.

Chiara looked up at the sky, at the rain. It hit her skin, sparking. She glared back at the school and ran down the street and away.

She collapsed against a wooden electric pole, alone in the streets of New York. No one wanted to be out in this rain. She glanced back up at the grey-purple sky and the humming powerlines above her and started to cry.

--------

** Whoo hoo... re-wrote the first chapter... now I'll get restarted on the other stuff. Wanted to use those lyrics... even if you don't like Story of the Year - Anthem of Our Dying Day, those are still good lyrics for this chapter...**


	2. The Xavier Sanctuary

Please take note that some of these characters are not mine! Many of them belong to my RP friends from the Underground. Streak/Trinity and Silence/Boyce © dollerhoney, Tarrien/Rei and Lizette/Lotus © Z. All other characters belong to me, unless they are property of Marvel Comics and the nice Xmen people. 

Chiara stared at her feet, she barely even breathed she was so nervous. She only just held the letter in her hands, scarcely breathing. 

My dear Chiara,

I hope that you accept my apology that I could not see you off today. I wish you the best of luck at Xavier's Academy and hope that you visit often. Remember to keep up your instrument practice and write me letters from time to time. 

Italy is fascinating; I will bring you here at the opportune time. 

Affectionately. 

Your Father,

Lord Niles Ian Allen Myste. 

ÔAffectionately' didn't cover her father's behavior. Chiara sighed, openly. The last thing her father had said to her was: "Your eyes look very sad today, Chiara." That was two months ago. He didn't even have a pet name for her. 

He ceased to realize that her eyes always looked sad. They were the same color as the underside of a rain cloud and her most striking feature. Chiara hated her eyes, they always showed her emotions, which she usually tried to hide. She liked her hair. It was the same color as darkly stained mahogany. In the sunlight it glittered because of the thin strands of gold lacing through it, remnants of her mother. In the shadows, her hair looked black, it hid her well. 

"You can come in now." Echoed the voice in her head. A shiver coursed now her spine and she stood up and went into the office, closing the door behind her.

Chiara hadn't pictured Charles Xavier in a wheelchair, yet there he was, low behind his desk, bald and half-smiling. 

"Welcome to my school." He said. Chiara stared, she didn't want to speak. "No doubt you are quite nervous." He said. Chiara nodded. "I'll just go over your information with you to make sure it's correct, then we'll take you to your dorm." He said. She nodded again. Xavier took a piece of paper off the table and scanned it with his eyes.

"Chiara Amelia Myste, age 16. Previously attended Andrew Hall for Distinguished Students." Chiara twisted her mouth at this. Xavier glanced at her and then went back to reading. "Father is Lord Niles Myste, mother is deceased." He looked at her, but Chiara didn't move. "Your mutation is the manipulation of electricity, creation of electricity and highly distributive static presence. Interesting." He said, Chiara down up at him. 

"That's all correct," she said. 

"You'll be in a dorm with Yuako Chanda. She's a nice girl, I hope you get along." Xavier said, moving his hand along his left wheel. Chiara nodded.

"Do you have any questions?" he asked.

"Is there a piano?" Chiara almost blurted out. 

"In the recreation room." Xavier smiled. He pressed a side panel and spoke into the speaker.

"Ororo, you can come and collect her now." He said bluntly. The door opened and a woman with shocking white hair and dark skin stood in the doorway. "Storm with show you to your dorm." He said. Chiara nodded and started for the door. 

"Before you go," Xavier interrupted, "may I ask a question?" Chiara nodded again. "How did you discover your power?

"I blew up at computer." Chiara said quietly. 

"Accidentally. I hope." Xavier smiled again and for the first time that day, Chiara grinned back. Just as she and Storm were leaving the reception office and walking down the first corridor, a blonde girl ran by, almost knocking Chiara off her feet.

"Trinity!" Storm warned. The girl stopped and looked back. "Watch where you are going.

"Yes, sorry, Storm." The girl said, twisting a strand of rainbow colored hair. As Chiara watched her bright green eyes changed swiftly to lavender in a moment. The girl blinked and ran off.

"That is Trinity Koussa. She's usually so cautious, I wonder what could be the urgency." Storm said, taking Chiara through a maze of confusing staircases and corridors. "The students are all in class currently, your dorm will be empty." Storm said, pausing at the top of a stairwell. She opened the nearest door of a passage and stepped inside. 

Two beds, a bookcase, desk and two tall lamps stood plainly making an easy living quarter. There was a calico cover on the empty bed pillow. A small snake slithered under the florescent light of a clean glass tank.

"I hope that you'll be comfortable here." Storm said, Chiara realized she had a light accent, but she didn't know where from. "I teach at the school. If you ever have any questions, you can ask me or any of my colleagues." She smiled warmly. Chiara smiled back.

"Thank you.

"I understand it must be hard. It was for me when I first found my mutation." Storm comforted. "In that envelope on your bed you'll find you class schedule, a map of the school and a list of requirements and rules as well as a calendar" She said, gesturing a yellow envelope on the pillow of Chiara's bed. "You can go and look at some of the school if you want before the students are out of class.

"Thank you." Chiara repeated, Storm smiled one last time and then left. 

Chiara glanced around the room, then at the envelope. Her life was full of envelopes. Letters from her father, neatly folded notes on the fridge, envelopes slipped under her door and the red envelopes her father gave her on special occasions that were full of money. 

She crossed over to the snake tank and tapped on the glass. The snake followed her with one lazy eye, while the other was closed. 

Chiara picked up the envelope and tipped the packet out of it.

Her schedule contained all the normal subjects of a 16-year-old. A few of the classes she did not recognize: Power Manipulation, Mutant Studies, and Concentration Class, none of it made much sense. 

Except now she knew she was a mutant. She also knew that if she concentrated hard enough, she could shut down the monitor of a television or computer for a short amount of time, but that was it.

Chiara put the envelope down and picked up the map. She saw the rec room, a floor down and a corridor across from where she was now. She slipped through the door and down the nearest flight of stairs. Around her she could hear the murmuring of classes in session. A grandfather clock ticked nearby. 

The mansion was beautifully decorated with fine carpeting, tapestries, paintings and statues. Chiara moved along the floor, trying to find her way about. She found the living room, which was a start, a huge screen TV and a few couches and chairs littered part of the room. The other was filled with a large oak table, presumable useful for study sessions. 

Chiara checked the map, the rec room wasn't far now. Almost immediately, chatter and laughter began to echo around her as the classrooms emptied. She froze, not knowing what to do. The grandfather clock rang for three o'clock, the students were now free to go. 

Students began to pour into the living room, bouncing onto couches and joining up with friends. Many of them looked like normal kids, others were more striking. A girl with ashy-grey hair passed her, knocking into her arm. She apologized and went on her way, but Chiara noticed the sudden occurrence of ice crystals forming on her arm. She brushed them away and stood quietly, waiting for someone to notice. 

After a while, she slipped into an empty room, only to find it was the one she'd been looking for. There was a pool table, a couch, a piano and some dartboards, but other than that it was scarce.

Holding her breath, she tiptoed over to the piano and sat down. Pressing down as hard as she could on the soft pedal, fearing someone would hear, she began to play.

She was just finishing the first section of Jesu Joy of Man when she heard voices coming closer from the living room outside. 

Suddenly, two figures burst into the room and reeled back in shock at noticing her presence. 

"New kid!" one shouted, as if she were some kind of animal.

"I'll go, it's okay, I just wanted to practice." Chiara blurted quickly, getting up quickly and making to run for the door. 

"Whoa, don't worry, we just came into play pool." The other said. Chiara raised her dark eyes to them, and realized they were two boys. One was tall and lanky with a mop of messy brown hair on his head and strangely magenta eyes. The other had spike brown hair, tipped black, that must have taken a stylist hours to dye correctly and his eyes were dark green. Around his neck hung a small silver ankh pendant on a black cord. Both of them looked older than Chiara.

"So, you're new?" asked the taller one. He seemed to be infatuated with the word. "What's your name?

"Chiara Myste." Chiara said, frankly, she didn't know what else to say.

"Add McClain." Said the tall one.

"Simon Erickson." Said the other. "Go ahead and play your piano, we don't mind." He shrugged, starting for the pool table. Chiara slipped out the door before he could notice she'd disappeared. 

She began to try to find her way back to the dorm room. Someone had turned on the big screen, the sound waves passed to her through the walls of the corridor.

She had no idea where she was. A sudden whoosh of air passed her and she whirled around. The girl from before was walking quickly down the corridor.

"Hey." Chiara called after her, without even searching for a name. The girl stopped and looked at her.

"Can I help you?" she asked. Chiara noticed she had a streak of rainbow through her hair and now her eyes were blue.

"Yeah, I'm new and I really can't get back to my dormitory." Chiara bit her lip. The girl shrugged and came to look at her map.

"Easy, it's one corridor left from here and then up the girls staircase." She said. "I'm Streak, by the way." 

"Storm said your name was Trinity." Chiara stammered, trying not to sound rude.

"Yeah, my code name is Streak. Trinity makes me sound like some nun." Streak said.

"Oh." Chiara nodded. "I'm Chiara." She said after a pause.

"No code yet?" Streak said. "Oh well, we'll find one for you soon enough." Chiara smiled weakly, she didn't really know what Streak was talking about. "Hey!" Streak laughed suddenly, "Yuako's your roommate! Come on, she's in the library, I'll take you to meet her." 

And before Chiara could protest, Streak grabbed her wrist and ran off, so fast they were barely touching the ground.


	3. Not So Different

Streak stopped suddenly at a pair of dark, glassy double doors and pulled them open, letting go of Chiara. 

She led her through the dark, dry room, lined with bookshelves and desks and lights. A line of computers appeared in the distance, a few kids sitting on the desks and laughing. 

Chiara stopped suddenly. Streak looked back at her.

"What's wrong?" she asked. Chiara stretched out her hand and all the computer monitors shut off simultaneously. A groan echoed from the group of people. Chiara bit her lower lip. 

"Last time, I blew up a computer." She said quietly. Streak narrowed her eyes and walked over to the computer desks. Chiara followed slowly.

"Yuako." Streak said. A girl looked up. She had long black-brown hair and slanted Chinese eyes. "I found your roommate." Yuako stood up and looked at Chiara, her eyes questioning.

"Did you turn all the computers off?" she asked. Chiara paused. 

"It was only because I needed to-" she began but Yuako's smile cut her off. She laughed and turned back to the group.

"Awesome!" she cried, throwing her hands up in the air. 

"We've got an electric girl here!" she grinned, turning back to the group of students.

"What's your name?" Asked a girl sitting on the desk. Her hair was spiky black and green and her eyes were mismatched.

"Chiara Myste." Chiara swallowed. The girl nodded and leaned back. Chiara finally looked over the other people in front of her. There was Streak and Yuako and the girl with spiky hair, of course. Then there was a guy with red and black hair. Then there were two of them, looking like night and day had gone out on a date, the girl was dark and gothic-ly dressed with sheer sleeves, and the guy with long white blonde hair and blue eyes. They were sitting close.

A kid much younger than the rest sat cross-legged on the desk wearing a hoodie, baggy pants and a backwards hat. His face looked some what depressed and was holding a notebook covered in doodles.

"In order," Yuako said brightly, starting to introduce her friends. "Lizette, Tarrien with the red hair, Twist and Silence and Jordan, I'm tutoring him. And you already know Streak." She said. Chiara nodded, not really knowing what to do. She took a deep breath, and asked the big question.

"What do you allÉ do?" she asked. Immediately each one of them showed off one of their powers: a computer disappeared, Lizette grew a tail and spots, Silence lifted a pencil into the air using his mind. A gust of wind nearly blew them off the desk and Jordan formed a perfect square of water hovering above his palm. Streak went part invisible and Yuako teleported to the other side of the room.

Chiara blinked. "Impressive." was all she could muster. Jordan passed the cube of water over to her and it dropped onto the ground, forming a flat disk and levitating before it broke on the ground. Streak hit him on the side of the head and the water disk splattered on the ground.

"Show off." She grinned. Jordan shrugged, half smiling. 

"I'll show you the rest of the school and get you settled in." Yuako said, teleporting back to Chiara. Chiara nodded and Yuako said goodbye to her friends and they left the library.

"Interesting friends." Chiara said, trying not to sound offensive.

"Oh yeah, we're basically the outcasts, can't get a word in with Simon Erikson and Courtney Brookes and that lot." Yuako shrugged happily, taking her back down another corridor.

"Simon Erikson?" Chiara asked, jumping at the sound of the familiar name. 

"Oh yeah. Big tough guy, thinks he's all that just because he gets off with the girls." Yuako spat; almost disgusted.

"Oh." Chiara said. Yuako nodded and they went up a stairwell. "I'm never going to get used to this place

"It takes time." Yuako said. Then she went back to the topic. "Yeah, anyway, they're the popular ones, and we're theÉ not so popular." She half laughed. Chiara bit her lip.

"Oh." She said again. They stopped at the dorm-room and went in. Yuako showed Chiara the secret compartment in their wall, she was set that the teachers gave it to her purposefully, and the green snake in the tank.

"It's my little Oscar!" Yuako said. Chiara didn't really dislike snakes, she figured she could get used to them. Yuako pulled the snake out of his tank and hung him around her neck. 

"What breed is he?" Chiara asked, not quite certain on weather there were snake Ôbreeds'.

"Chinese Rattleless Snake." Yuako said, sing-song "Only snake in the world with solid eyelids." Chiara nodded, pretending she knew what her new roommate was talking about. Oscar blinked at her. Yuako put her pet back in the tank and showed Chiara the rest of the school.

By the time she crawled into bed at half past one in the morning, Chiara was pretty much sure she could remember the way to the bathroom.


	4. Music Freak

Chiara had fitted in like a hand in a glove. To her, being a freaky freak in a school of freaks just put her at the bottom of the Ôfreaky' list, and that was okay, considering the fact there were other freaks on that Ôfreaky' list as well. Her confidence returned with the arrival of her personal belongings. Among them her huge birthday present: a black Harley and an instrument case including her flute, guitar, violin and piccolo. The harp came later. Having only been there a week, she'd started classes with some difficulty. As usual she struggled with anything academic, but her grades in the other Ôspecial' fields were steadily improving. Having Yuako for a roommate certainly benefited her. Usually Yuako checked

Chiara's homework, while Chiara practiced an instrument, picked at random by her new dorm-mate.

She was, surprisingly, making friends fast. Already she had gone to the movies with Yuako, Streak and Twist. They'd played tricks on those without mutations only to receive a severe talking-to by Cyclops when they arrived home. One evening, as she lazed about she and Yuako's dorm room, the lights began to flicker. "What the hellÉ" she stammered as Yuako came in carrying a shoe-box. 

"No sweat." Yuako said. "Just Silence and Simon having an argument.

"Simon?" Chiara asked, sitting up, her loose hair a mess from the way she'd been lying. 

"Erikson. The cute one who thinks he's God on Earth? Know him?" Yuako asked. She put the box down and pulled a dead mouse from it. She dropped it in Oscar's cage and sat back with a satisfied grin that deepened her dimples. 

"Oh right." Chiara nodded. She hadn't really needed to ask who Simon Erikson was. She remembered him from her first day, and although she'd only been at the school for a week and a half, she could safely say she fancied him. "I take it he and Silence don't get along then." 

"Not at all." Yuako said, making her bed. "Not at all." The lights stopped flickering, and from where she was, Chiara could hear someone storming up the stairs.

"Don't go down there." Silence said, poking his head in. Silence was like Streak's brother. Chiara had heard something about the both of them being tracked through the wild for the past two years, but she wasn't sure. Twist, who was Silence's girlfriend, had also been tracked too but had been on the run a lot longer. It seemed everything had worked out for the best, considering they had all met up at the Professor's mansion.

"Wasn't planning to." Yuako said as Silence disappeared. Chiara sat quiet for a moment. 

"Do they do that a lot?" she asked, standing up. Yuako nodded. 

Before her roommate could realize, Chiara slipped out of the door and started along the corridor with a random book she'd picked up. Her feet met the stairs, walking down to the living room. The TV was blaring, she could hear laughed and the sound of soda cans being opened. 

She walked into the room, the sight meeting her eyes. Simon, Add McClain and two other friends were sitting in front of the TV, but they weren't really watching, more laughing and joking about someone one of them had just said. Two girls sat on the table behind them, giggling primly.

With a certain pride Chiara shook her long burgundy-ish hair over one shoulder and sat down at the homework table to one side. The two girls who'd been sitting on the other end both cast her cynical looks and sat down with Simon and Add's friends. Their male companions shrugged off their remaining laughs and turned up the TV.

Chiara pulled the book she'd brought towards her and glanced at the cover. It was one of Yuako's, The Art of Chi. Chiara rolled her eyes and looked at the back, but a sudden buzzing in her head made her stop.

"Could you please turn that off?" she asked Simon and his little clique who barely seemed to be watching the game again now and were more interested with flirting with the two girls.

She received no answer, but Simon looked up, shocking green eyes annoyed. Chiara bit her lip and looked down at Yuako's book again, embarrassed. After a while she heard the buzzing in her head again, noise from the TV's electric give-off and looked up to ask again.

To her surprise, Simon was sitting beside her, peering at her book.

"What ya reading?" he asked, not really sounding interested. Before Chiara could answer he'd picked up the book and looked at the cover. "Weird." He said, tossing it back on the tabletop.

Chiara wanted to explain herself, but she figured she'd probably only trip over her words. She twisted a ring on her right index finger and looked at Simon.

"Do you think they'd mind turning the TV off?" she asked nervously.

"Oi Add!" Simon shouted to the couch in response. "Turn the box off!

"Shut up Simon!" another guy beside Add yelled and they laughed and went back to their conversation. 

The TV screen began to flutter. Static filled the room, fluctuating in Chiara's mind making it hard for her to concentrate. 

"JustÉ make them." She told Simon, reaching for her head. 

"Dude, you don't have to be so impolite." Simon chuckled, leaning back in his chair. He hadn't looked at her since she'd last asked, completely unaware of her headache. 

"Tell the music geek to shut up!" Add called at him and Simon laughed in Chiara's direction. Chiara pulled up her head, the static filling her ears now, painfully making her eyes unfocused. 

"Freaks like you." She said quietly. "Turn the damn thing off!" she shouted, slamming her hand on the table. Simon stood up and went back to the couch, staring at the screen. Their football game had completely disappeared now, the screen flickered between extreme static and shiny blackness. 

"What the fuck is she doing?" One of the girls asked, glaring in Chiara's direction. "Siiiiiiimon! Make it stop!" she whined, grabbing at Simon's hand.

"If you want it to stop, turn the bloody thing off!" Chiara yelled at her. 

"Shit." Simon said. "Quit it, you-" he started, but the blaring of the sound speakers made him stop.

Chiara could feel it building up in her head, the pressure was too much, but she couldn't shut the TV off. It way was too big and too far away to cover up, she could have just run out the room, but the pain in her head made her unable.

She could hear their voices raised around her: swearing, accusing, blamingÉ _What a lot of bigots_ she thought and then immediately wished she hadn't. She opened one eye a crack and saw the television shaking, the sound blaring out of it, knocking the numerous remotes from the shelf above. Her vision swirled and she felt like she'd collapse.

Almost immediately after, something shattered and the pain in her head suddenly ceased. She breathed a sigh of relief and straightened and looked around.

"What the hell was that!?" Simon bellowed at her and her relieved smile vanished. The TV screen had shattered, almost exactly like Jenna's laptop. One guy was lying on the ground, a splinter of glass protruding from one bleeding arm.

"Oh shitÉ" Chiara whispered hoarsely. One week and she'd already hurt more people than she needed to. One week and she was going to be expelled.

A few more shards of the broken screen were stabbed into the couch, one had narrowly missed the whining girl. Add had been hit in the eye by a flying remote, and was lying on the ground groaning as if he'd been shot in the leg.

"I'mÉ" Chiara started. "IÉ I'm sor-" but the other girl cut her off.

"Nice job, freak." She spat. Something inside Chiara loosened her legs. An iron hand gripped around her windpipe.

She turned and bolted out of the building.


	5. The Perfect Mutant

Twist was the one who came looking for her. She said that Yuako's parents had called and had had sent her instead.  
  
"It's okay." Twist reassured her when she found Chiara sitting by a lake about a mile from the mansion gates. "Everyone has they're first slip up. They probably deserved it anyway."  
  
Chiara stifled a laugh,  
  
"I don't know... if maybe, there is just something with my mutation that makes me angry." She sighed.  
  
"No worries," Twist smiled. "I know what that's like, and you don't have it, they're just arseholes. It's getting dark, the team cleared up after you. We'd better get back."  
  
Chiara nodded and the two of them slowly walked back to the mansion gates.  
  
"X wants to see you." Lizette said sourly when they went inside. "If he wants to conference you on good and evil and control shit, I'll kill myself." She moaned.  
  
Chiara tried to smile, but it was already tricky to say anything, what with the idea that she could be leaving the school in a matter of hours because of her actions. She started down the hall for X's office, waving goodbye to Twist and Lizette. Half way down an anonymous corridor, her memory lapsed and she couldn't remember the way to the head-masters office.  
  
"Oh damn..." Chiara said, turning around, starting back for the way she'd come. There was a stairwell to her right and another forked corridor to the left. She went down the fork and took the right hand side. After a few more minutes of confusion she went back and continued up the stairs until something, the girls' dorm corridor, looked familiar.  
  
From here, she almost knew the way. Coming back down the stairs, she followed two more corridors until she found the reception, empty, and the Professor's office up ahead.  
  
She looked at the door handle and sighed, reaching for it. An immediate yellow spark leapt from her hand to the shiny gold knob. She was too worried and full of anxiety. She closed her eyes and started to open the door again, when a sudden raised voice from inside the office made her stop.  
  
"Then what is you're course of action!" came the male voice she did not recognize, emphasizing the 'what' in the sentence. Chiara shied away from the door, leaning into the wall incase the speaker should see her.  
  
"The truth is. I don't know what." Came Xavier's voice, steady and calm as always.  
  
"Professor." Started a woman, this was one that Chiara knew: Storm. "Are you saying that we just sit back while Magneto tries to-"  
  
"Of course he's not!" came the unfamiliar voice again, "Are you?"  
  
"I have already told you." Xavier said. "I do not know what Eric's actions will be, this is just what we have found from one source... but I can use Cerebro to track him, see if he'll let me see..." A shy chuckle came from one corner of the room, a new voice.  
  
"I am sorvy Professor," the voice apologized. "If I created any insecurities vith zis information..."  
  
"No Kurt..." the Professor sighed. "It was an excellent decision on your part. If Magneto is trying to target any of our students to create his own genetically modified mutant, it is good that we know." Chiara held her breath... genetically modified mutants?! As in... Frankenstein-type mutants, but with powers?  
  
"Just keep on our guard then?" came the voice of the surly man around the campus, Wolverine... or Logan... whatever Yuako had said.  
  
"That would be wise." Xavier finished. "Now... if you excused me, Kurt, Ororo, Logan, James. I have a student waiting out side who has just heard everything we've just said."  
  
Chiara's vision pulsed in shock for a moment, and then the door opened and Cyclops... the unfamiliar voice looked out. Chiara could say anything, but he looked angry. He opened the door wider for her to come inside which Chiara did.  
  
She stood in the middle of them. Ororo, Wolverine and Cyclops in a half circle behind her, Kurt sitting in a chair in the back and X sitting behind the desk before her. Now she was sure to be expelled, now she'd been eavesdropping on the all-important Xmen.  
  
"I assure you Miss. Myste. I have no intention of expelling you," X said calmly to her seeing Chiara looked shocked that he'd just read her thoughts twice in the last two seconds, "but, if you utter a word of what you've just heard to any of your classmates, one word, it will be a sure ticket back to your father." He said. Chiara stared at nothing, trying to throw off the fact of ten eyes all glaring at her. "Do you understand?"  
  
Chiara nodded, still not lifting her gaze.  
  
"In that case, we will begin our conference. James, Logan," he addressed the group behind her, "keep a lookout. Ororo, keep the security cameras on the gates... the metal ones preferably. And Kurt... no more teleporting around the area without my knowledge." The Xmen began to leave the room and X turned to Chiara.  
  
"I'm sorry, Professor." Chiara said finally. "I just..."  
  
"Now now... that's quite alright. As you can see, I have some work on my hands." He said kindly gesturing that she should pull up a chair.  
  
"Were you saying that... Magn... some guy was trying to create a modified mutant?" Chiara asked, wondering if she was asking a questio n she shouldn't have been.  
  
"Yes." X said after some thought. "Take the DNA from several young, venerable mutants; harness their powers, even those unknown to them; and essentially create a perfect mutant to use for himself." Chiara twisted her mouth.  
  
"Wow." She said uneasily.  
  
"Not to worry. I doubt that it'll be much of a problem when it arises. Mr. Wagner's exploits have kept us strangely informed. Now... on with your conference." 


	6. A Secret

For the next few days Chiara felt as though she were carrying the world on her shoulders. She'd only been there a week and already she'd seriously injured at least two students and made a promise to keep a secret she knew barely anything about.  
  
The only thing was, if Magneto was kidnapping mutants, would he come to the Academy? Or would he just prey on those still oblivious to the mutant education world? The entire situation affected her studies more, if that was possible.  
  
After a restless few hours of trying to get to sleep she finally made her way downstairs and flopped onto the couch in the living room. The TV had been replaced already, the glass cleaned away. These people just pull things out of a hat... she thought, yawning. For a dazed moment she thought about watching TV but then she remembered she wasn't normal anymore.  
  
A sudden noise from the couch beside her made her jump in her seat. What she thought had been a pale cushion of some kind moved and deformed on the opposite couch. Streak looked up from the pillow, sweeping her yellow hair over one shoulder.  
  
"Couldn't sleep either?" she asked. Chiara answered with a shake of the head. "What's up?" Streak asked a little sleepily. Chiara guessed she had dozed off when she hadn't meant to.  
  
"I can't tell you." Chiara said, folding her arms over her chest and staring at the TV screen like it was an enemy. Streak shifted her position, curling the dark blanket she'd been under around her.  
  
"If you're still pissed about what happened then-"  
  
"It's not that." Chiara said quickly. "But like I said, I can't tell you." She said again, jaw set, expression hard.  
  
"Suit yourself." Streak said, looking pensive for a moment. The shadows hid her eyes, but Chiara could tell they were probably changing color as she spoke. "F.Y.I, Chris and Add are both fine. Add has a black eye, Chris just has a bandage and he's making it into something huge. He says you attacked him with a knife." She snickered. Chiara choked a laugh.  
  
"Oh great." She grinned, still suppressing her laughter. She stopped for a moment and then crawled over to Streak's couch and curled up next to her. "I can't believe I used to be practically in love with Simon Erikson."  
  
"You too?" Streak giggled. "Well... now you see the truth." She lowered her voice dramatically. "Welcome to the Matrix."  
  
Chiara grinned for a moment.  
  
"I'm going to bed." She said. "Night." She gave Streak a small wave and headed up the stairs. 


	7. Concentration Class

Chiara seemed better after having talked with Streak. She went for an early drive and then went to "Concentration" Class. She stepped into the classroom and was immediately grabbed by Yuako.  
  
"I thought you'd /I show up!" she giggled excitedly.  
  
"Don't the psychics have a special class, Yuako?" Chiara asked her friend with a confused look. Yuako didn't say anything for a moment, she seemed too excited by something going on at the front. Chiara tried to see over the crowds for moment, Yuako closed her eyes and bamfed them to the front, ignoring a few students annoyed voices.  
  
"What the..." Chiara said, having never bamfed before, it was like splitting apart temporarily.  
  
"Look!" Yuako said, pointing to the scene at the front of the classroom. "Austin knocks him out, and then Simon revives him!" she laughed.  
  
Chiara studied the scene. First, an African American boy placed his hands on the neck of another boy, who looked like he'd been a member of Simon's posse, and he fell to the ground. Immediately Simon bent over him, hands glowing a faint gold and the posse member got up.  
  
The sound of the slightly impressed applause suddenly stopped and the sound of high heels clicking towards them.  
  
"Mr. Erikson, Mr. Bell, Mr. Denson!" Storm shouted, her calm presence twisted with annoyance. "How many times have I told you? Please save your tricks for Iin class/I!" she sighed.  
  
"Sorry Ororo." The African American boy said.  
  
"Yeah, we were just practicing concentration." Simon nodded, but his attention was not on Storm. Yuako elbowed Chiara sharply in the ribs, making Chiara snap out of the staring contest she was having with the floor.  
  
"Ow! What?" she asked.  
  
"He likes you." Yuako hissed, a grin tracing a lips.  
  
"What? Who? Simon!?" Chiara asked. Her friend nodded, biting her lower lip to keep from laughing. "Yuako, are you insane! I just mortally injured a few of his closest friends, he doesn't /I me!"  
  
"I'm not insane, I'm psychic." Yuako said pointedly. "And he /I."  
  
"Sit down please." Storm said as Chiara was about to protest. They took their seats. Yuako realized she was in fact in the wrong class and rush out, her cheeks red with embarrassment.  
  
Chiara chewed her bottom lip, trying to listen to something Storm was saying about how the brain works. She looked over her shoulder at Simon, who was looking back with his vivid green eyes. She turned back instantaneously, surprised by her own actions.  
  
"Chiara. Could you please tell me what part of your brain is used for thought control?" Storm asked suddenly. Everyone in the class looked at her.  
  
"Um... the cerebellum?" Chiara guessed. She didn't even know the names of the parts of the brain, the fact that they were printed on the wall behind storm was just good luck.  
  
"No. The cerebrum." Storm said. A few people chuckled in Chiara's direction. She folded her arms and lent down on her desk, wishing the lesson would be over. 


	8. Power

Chiara pulled on her pajama shirt and looked down at her feet. She was ready for bed, but Yuako hadn't turned up yet. Chiara sat down on her bed and tried to chip some of her black nail polish off without much luck.  
  
It was late on a Friday night, a few weeks later. It might have been past ten, but Chiara was sure it was later. She opened the door to her dorm and looked out for any sign of her roommate. Quietly, Chiara stepped out. The chill of the slight draught in the corridor made goose-bumps rise on her arms.  
  
Down the hall there was one door open. Chiara looked in, remembering it was Twist's room. Twist's roommates, Alyx and Cat were asleep, breathing quietly, but Twist was sitting up, still dressed. She looked up as Chiara stuck her head in, eyes flaring red to her normal relaxed black.  
  
"Jesus, you scared me." She whispered, smiling. Chiara reflected the gesture nervously. She noticed Twist was writing something, signing a letter with her curly black handwriting.  
  
"What are you doing?" she asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.  
  
"Writing." Twist said. "It's a letter to an old friend of mine back in New York." She shrugged, biting her lip. She twisted her arms unconsciously so that Chiara could see the runic tattoo down the back of her forearm reading 'Silence'.  
  
"Why?" Chiara asked, not able to blurt out any more words. Twist looked nervous for a moment.  
  
"I have this problem," She said. Chiara saw her place a hand over her arm-warmer cloaked wrist, "with insecurity." She sighed. "Connor, my friend, knows me better than anyone... except maybe Silence." She said, a little color appearing in her cheeks. Chiara smiled.  
  
"Have you seen Yuako?"  
  
"No. Why?"  
  
"Neither have I." Chiara said, as that was her reason. She chewed her lip, frowning now. "Twist... I-"she started. "Do you consider yourself powerful?" she asked. Twist shrugged.  
  
"I've got a billion things to learn, control for one."  
  
"But, I mean... is your ability powerful?" Chiara said, trying to find a way to explain herself best. "Do you know what your limit is?"  
  
"Xavier told me, if I mastered myself, I might be able to create a tornado." Twist said. "Stopping it would be a different story though." She added hollowly. "Why do you ask?"  
  
"I can't tell you." Chiara said, though she'd probably given Twist enough suspicion to guess. "Just... keep on your guard." She said, getting up. "Tell Yuako I need to talk to her when she gets back." Twist nodded and Chiara left.  
  
She went back into her room and sat down again, thinking. Because thinking didn't seem to come naturally to her, it led to worry. What if Magn- whoever was up to something? Would it endanger her friends? The teachers? Her?! Chiara shook her head free of the anxiety. She needed to stop and sleep.  
  
"Nî hâo." Yuako said, coming into the room. Chiara jumped at the sound of her voice.  
  
"Where have you been?" she asked. "It's almost midnight!"  
  
"Add had was complaining that his black eye made him take longer on his rate over distance equations." Yuako said, sitting down on the bed. "I just didn't know he'd take an hour on each problem." She sighed, lying down. "Why? Were you worried?"  
  
"Too worried." Chiara said, her mind drifting to the threat again.  
  
"MAGNETO'S DOING WHAT?!" Yuako said, sitting up sharply. Chiara looked confused for a moment, then she hit her head. Why was living with a psychic so much work?!  
  
"Yuako! Please don't tell, I was sworn to secrecy!" she pleaded. Yuako's eyes were watering.  
  
"He's going to try for us? Isn't he?" she asked weakly. Chiara could already tell she knew the answer and she nodded. "Poq gai..." she sighed; lying down. Chiara bit her lip nervously.  
  
"What does that mean?" she asked, knowing how Yuako liked to pronounce some things in Chinese.  
  
"Simplified, it means 'Holy fuck, what the bloody hell are we going to do.'" Yuako said, staring at the ceiling.  
  
"Oh." Chiara said. "I'm sorry." Yuako sat up again.  
  
"We're going to have to be prepared." She said. "If he comes... we'll sound the alarm." She nodded eagerly.  
  
Chiara didn't like the sound of the idea very much, but she nodded, hoping to cheer Yuako up. Her roommate lay down again and closed her eyes. After a few moments Chiara did the same but tried to go to sleep. As she closed her eyes, the lights dimmed but she couldn't sleep.  
  
Eventually Yuako's quiet, sleepy breathing and the odd muttering of her counting Pi in her sleep sent her to bed. 


	9. Stones

It was getting considerably colder now. Autumn was ending and they were caught in limbo before Winter came. Still there had been no sign of an attack from Magneto. Chiara was starting to worry. What if it was a false alarm?  
  
One day, in an effort to straighten her thoughts she went down to the nearby lake on her motorbike. The cold was biting, but it seemed to clear her head, which was something she hadn't been able to do in a while.  
  
She had a few problems to think about. First was the undecided impending doom that could end up with them all dead that was Magneto. Then there was Simon. And then there was dealing with her own confidence over both matters. As her uneasy pact with Yuako had demonstrated, she wasn't ready to be a leader.  
  
Putting her bike aside she picked up some round stones from the lakeside and tried tossing them as far as she could.  
  
So far, Magneto hadn't seemed much of a threat. His only appearance had been in their discussions of him and only the Professor's description of his actions had shocked her sufficiently. She tried to think herself out of being freaked by the concept. It didn't seem like much of an issue anymore. It had been almost a month since she'd first head it mentioned.  
  
Simon on the other hand, was a matter that could not be forgotten. He seemed so persistent to get what he wanted all the time, yet he'd never approached her since the day she'd blown up the TV.  
  
The question was if Simon did have these supposed 'feelings' for her, did she have the same from him. It was doubtful that she could ever start anything with him. He was almost three years older than her and about five social groups higher.  
  
She threw a rock hard into the water in frustration. It hit the water with a hard splash and then sunk below the rippled surface. She was about to toss another when a hard, metallic noise sounded quietly. It didn't seem to ring or echo, but it was definitely there.  
  
Chiara narrowed her eyes and threw another rock. The same thing happened. Not having to repeat the action again for clarification, she looked back towards her bike. It could just be there was a sunken car or piece of scrap metal at the bottom of the lake, but she was suspicious.  
  
She pulled her bike up, landing on its seat. The sky above her was dimming to the east. She switched on her headlamps and started the engine, pushing the kickstand up with her foot. She pulled the acceleration and zoomed out of the meadow.  
  
She pulled into the mansion's roundabout driveway. She threw her bike aside. It landed in the center flower place to the protest of a few students out enjoying the sun-setting sky.  
  
She walked up the mansion stairs and knocked on the Professor's office. When there was no answer she opened it herself, finding him in the middle of conference with some late students.  
  
"Can I help you?" he asked, looking up. The other students stared at her.  
  
"Er..." Chiara stumbled, wondering if she should be mentioning this in front of other students. "I think there's something at the bottom of the lake." She said. "The one a few miles from here, I dunno what it's called."  
  
Xavier sighed shortly.  
  
"I'm sure it's nothing, Miss. Myste." He said.  
  
"Professor..." she said through gritted teeth. The old man sighed again, for longer.  
  
"You're dismissed." He told the students, who eagerly fled the office. Xavier pressed a button on his PA. "Storm, Logan, I need the two of you to investigate something at Coolidge Lake." He said. There was a coughed answer on the other end of the line. X switched off the system.  
  
"Thank you, Chiara, for your notability, but I wouldn't worry about it." He said. Chiara nodded nervously and left the office. She started back towards the girl's dorms.  
  
As she walked the corridor she remembered her bike.  
  
"Shit." She mouthed as someone tapped her on the shoulder. "WHAT?!" she snapped.  
  
A timid blonde haired, blue-eyed girl stood behind her, clutching a piece of paper.  
  
"I'm sorry." She said. Chiara bit a lip.  
  
"It's fine. What do you want?" she said, still sounding harsher than she expected.  
  
"Do you know where I can find Boyd Michaels?" she asked. Chiara narrowed her eyes again.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"It's a student project. For chemistry lab." She said. Chiara nodded slightly.  
  
"Silence's in dorm 024." She said, she turned her back on the girl, starting down the corridor. "Knock first!" she shouted back. "Incase he's in there with Twist!"  
  
"Thank you!" the girl called nervously after her. As Chiara shut her door, the girl came up to it and took note of something on her paper. She heard a noise behind her and looked up with vivid orange eyes. She checked her paper over and then turned and hurried down the corridor. 


	10. Raid On The Mansion

Chiara pulled her covers around her in the golden glow of the bedside lamp. Yuako's bed creaked as she tossed and turned on the verge of sleep. Chiara gave a final smile, raised a hand and turned out the light.  
  
For a while, those were the only sounds she heard. The night seemed peaceful. Just silent...  
  
Suddenly Yuako sat up in bed. The noise of her ruffling duvet made Chiara jump. Yuako had got stiff. She was dead still for a moment and then she bamfed out of the room.  
  
Confused, and a little frightened, Chiara got out of bed. She pulled up her low pajama pants and opened the door. She seemed to have just missed Yuako, a purple poof was still disintegrating somewhere down the corridor.  
  
"Yuako?" she called, cautiously stepping out of her dorm room. "Yuako?" She heard a creak somewhere in the house. The hairs on her arms stood on end.  
  
Somewhere behind her a door shuddered open. She turned in shock, seeing an eye in the dark crack that had appear. The eye changed quickly, becoming lavender and Streak stepped out.  
  
"Did you feel it?" she whispered. Chiara shook her head. She hadn't felt anything except a slight sense of suspicion.  
  
"Yuako's gone. She just... bamfed off." She whispered back. Another door opened.  
  
"What the fuck is going on!" Twist said. Streak made a hushing noise immediately.  
  
"There's someone in the house." Streak said, looking about warily. "Someone who's forbidden." Chiara felt her breath catch. More doors were opening now at random points down the corridor.  
  
"Suit up." Twist said defiantly. Chiara looked at her, her eyes were red.  
  
Silence appeared, coming down towards them.  
  
"Someone's here." He said, immediately going to Twist and taking her hand.  
  
"Yuako's gone." Chiara said, presenting another problem. Immediately the Chinese girl appeared next to her, making Chiara jump again.  
  
"They're everywhere!" she hissed. "Men. They've got some kind of tracker device." She said. The other four looked at her confused. "They don't look... 'natural'." Yuako said.  
  
"What the fuck does that mean?!" Twist exclaimed again, this time in a whisper.  
  
Yuako covered her mouth with a hand and nodded. Chiara got the implication that they had no mouths. She shuddered again. Yuako closed her eyes again. Chiara gripped her arm.  
  
"Don't!" she said. "If you bamf off again I'm going to have a heart attack."  
  
"No!" Yuako said, "They-"Immediately something shot into their circle. They shrieked, splitting in different directions.  
  
Silence pointed towards the stairs.  
  
"There!" he shouted. A dim figure was standing there. Silence's eyes flared. "Get out!" he shouted. Yuako grabbed the other three, tugging them.  
  
"Silence!" Twist shouted back, getting free from Yuako's grip.  
  
"Feannan! GO!" he shouted back. Yuako finally got a hold of her, bamfing the two of them round the corner.  
  
"No! SILENCE!" Twist shouted, struggling to get free. A wind was picking up. A group of more projectiles landed in front of them. Chiara guessed they'd missed Silence.  
  
"The south staircase." Streak said, pushing the rest of them. They went the way they were being forced and were joined by another group of students at a corridor intersection. Chiara noticed Add and Simon in the crowd.  
  
They poured down the staircase, right into a group of other intruders. They were all identical. Black dressed with goggles and repeating guns. None of them shot. The younger students screamed and separated from the crowd.  
  
Chiara, Yuako, Twist, Streak, Add, Simon and a few older students were left at the base of the stairs. It was a beat before they snapped into action.  
  
Simon bamfed behind one, twisting his head. Chiara looked away at the last moment, not wanting to see the outcome.  
  
There was a roaring wind now. Furniture was being blown against the walls. She glanced at Twist, her eyes were red and frightening. Chiara didn't know what to do. So far all she could do was turn out a lightbulb and make a few sparks here and there. She closed her eyes, hoping Twist's wind would defend her. She pointed her arms towards one intruder and tried to let her power loose.  
  
She opened her eyes. A beam of red light hit the man and she fell back. Chiara grinned, but then there was a shout.  
  
"Cyclops!" from down the corridor. Simon and Add had already moved down there, showing off their excessive strength.  
  
No one, unless some psychics had read her mind, except Yuako and Chiara knew why were here, and she couldn't exactly tell them. Streak was shouting something, beckoning them all to follow.  
  
Chiara grabbed Twist hard and yanked her out of concentration. Twist glared at her, and then, eyes becoming black again, nodded. The two of them followed the hurried procession.  
  
Chiara glanced back. Cyclops had rushed down the stairs to help Add and Simon. Nightcrawler was nowhere to be seen, the same with Silence. Yuako was busy tackling an intruder, pounding him over and over with perfected martial arts moved.  
  
"Yuako!" she shouted. Twist and she both stopped. The intruder grabbed Yuako somehow, pinning her arms to her sides.  
  
"YUAKO!" Twist repeated, the wind picking up again. Yuako bamfed a few feet, but the man grabbed her again, this time sinking a medical needle into her arm. She screamed in anguish and then fell silent.  
  
"Yuako!" Chiara shouted again. The man dropped her and looked at the two of them. Twist grabbed Chiara's hand.  
  
"We have to run!" she said, already doing so. Chiara allowed herself to be dragged, and then, turned into a hard run.  
  
"Subjects Five and Seven ahead." Came a radio voice from behind them. "Heading for the South Wing."  
  
Twist landed against a wall, pulling Chiara around.  
  
"There's a secret passage way which leads out into the water ways." She said, trying to catch the breath at the same time. Chiara nodded, remembering Xavier mentioning it. "We need to get there. There's an entrance two corridors down." She said. Chiara nodded again. The footsteps were closing on them.  
  
"Ready?" she asked Twist pulling her straight. Twist nodded this time. The two of them ran. This time the intruder was shooting. Chiara felt things graze her arms, but they weren't solid and they didn't seem to hurt.  
  
"There!" Twist yelled, tugging her around a corner. Another girl was already at the entrance, trying to open it. "Alyx!" Twist said, grabbing the girl as soon as they were there.  
  
Chiara slammed hard on the wood with her elbow and it jutted open.  
  
"Go!" Alyx shouted. Chiara pushed through, Twist and Alyx following quickly.  
  
"Alyx, where's Cat?" Twist said, one it was closed. Alyx was about to answer when A few bullets hit the wall and they jumped.  
  
They ran down one way, tripping over wooden beams and loose screws. They hit a wide tunnel and sunk down against the damp wall to catch their breath.  
  
"Where's Cat?" Twist asked again, her breathing shallow.  
  
"I don't know." Alyx said. "Mein gott, we were running together and then she let go of my hand... and then when I looked back she was gone!"  
  
"We should get moving." Chiara interrupted. "Catch up with Streak and the rest." The other two nodded and stood.  
  
"Lucea's gone too." Alyx said, she was close to tears. "And I can't find Gaudi, I think he went to look for her." Twist took her arm. She seemed confident, but her voice shook.  
  
"Just follow the tunnel and-"there was a loud sound of an explosion and the ground seemed to shake momentarily. Without waiting for Twist to finish the sentence, they continued into the dark. 


	11. Missing Students

"I'm guessing you couldn't help us out with any light?" Alyx ventured as they encroached on the darkness more.  
  
"Oh." Chiara said, realizing she was talking to her. "Sure." Technically she had never created her own light before. She reached out a palm and closed her eyes, concentrating on sending potential energy through her veins to her hand.  
  
She opened her eyes again, surprisingly pleased to see a cluster of sparks about her skin, entwined with her fingers. She smiled and looked at the other two. They didn't return her look of success, they kept heading into the dark.  
  
"Alyx! Twist! Chiara!" a voice suddenly called ahead of them.  
  
"Streak?" Chiara called, her steps picking up. Streak appeared out of the dim. Her eyes were the same shade as grass. She gave a grateful smile and awkwardly locked the three of them in a hug.  
  
With some anatomic persuasion Chiara was able to place sparks around the tunnels, providing some light. Younger students were sitting, huddled together. Streak was doing an amazing job of keeping them from panic. Half of them fell asleep within minutes of her assurance.  
  
"Kurt bamfed down a few minutes before you arrived." She said to the other three when the students had quieted down. "He said Cyclops has the place near secure. Logan and Storm got back just in the nick of time." She smiled. "But... there are some missing students."  
  
Chiara didn't have to ask if Yuako was one of them. From the determination of the one intruder who'd knocked her out and then chased them, she was already a hundred miles again. She shuddered, freezing cold in her pajamas.  
  
"Silence?" Twist said with a note of urgency, taking Streak's shoulders. "Streak? Is Silence up there? Is he helping?" Streak looked worried. Her eyes changed to match. She shook her head.  
  
"I... I don't know." She said slowly. Twist let go of her. She looked back at the dark way they'd come and begin walking.  
  
"Twist! No! You can't!" Alyx shouted after her, but Twist was going to fast.  
  
"Twist!" Streak joined. She reached out a hand, stopping Twist in place with her mind. Twist seemed to struggle against the psychic force. She threw Streak a crimson, but teary eyed, glare and finally returned.  
  
She crumbled against the tunnel wall, near tears. Alyx looked at Chiara and Streak before going to sit with her.  
  
"Yuako?" Streak asked.  
  
"She... she was taken down." Chiara said, trying to make some memory in her mind that Yuako had gotten back up and was running after them. "She... they put something in her arm." She tried again, voice shaking.  
  
Something above them slid open and light filtered into the tunnel shaft. The students shifted out the way to see who was up there.  
  
"They're down there." Said a deep voice. Chiara immediately recognized it as Logan's. Several of the students were smiling, whispering his name in relief. There was the grinding noise of a ladder being lowered down against the metal opening. One by one they began to climb up. Eventually, Chiara's head finally crested into the fresh night air. Kurt offered her a hoof and she pulled herself up. She looked up at the starry sky and then over at the mansion.  
  
A near blinding sight met her eyes. There were two great fumes of smoke rising from the room. The wooden building looked damaged. The grass was glittery with broken window glass. Chiara looked over at Streak who shook her head.  
  
Two figures appeared from the shadows of the school, coming towards them.  
  
"Logan!" one called. It was Add and Simon.  
  
"What'd Cyclops get you down on?" Logan asked immediately.  
  
"Attendance." Simon said. "By count, everyone's here, but five students are missing." Chiara's ears pricked at Simon's words. Logan turned to look at him sharply.  
  
"Who?!" he exclaimed. Almost everyone was listening. Simon seemed to well understand that. He let out a deep breath and looked at the board he was carrying.  
  
"Lucea Windle, Gaudi Von Goeth. Cathrine Wood, Mingmei Yuako and Boyd Michaels." He said with an attitude of admittance. There were several whispery outbreaks of talking from the field of students. Chiara frowned. She'd known all of them, even if only a little.  
  
She looked back at Streak again. Her eyes were closed, but she was sure they'd be pale blue with sadness. Behind her Twist was crying, Alyx was comforting her, but solemn looking herself.  
  
"Where are they?!" Logan continued.  
  
"We dunno." Add interjected. "But Storm's got one of the dead attackers. She and the Professor and going to test the uniform for a location." He shrugged. Logan paused.  
  
"Thank you." He said, frowning. He turned his head, pulled out a lighter and lit a cigar. 


	12. To Make Complications Worse

Wheee! 12th chapter... I'm spouting these out cause my muse is hyper, so their not particularly well written, but they get the point across. I'm now introducing Connor cause' he's an awesome character. XD I'm also introducing Lucea, Gaudi, Cat (though they've been kidnapped) and Alyx cause' they all rock too, it's just this chapter is annoyingly mostly about Connor. Connor and Lucea © Callie, Alyx and Gaudi © Gracie, Cat © Hannah. ------------------------------------------------------  
  
The damage seemed substantial. All the glass in the front windows was gone from the intruders exit. One back wall in the last stretch of dorm rooms had been blown out. The main staircase had exploded when a shot-bomb was placed to stop students escaping. Kurt was standing at all times at the bottom to bamf children up to make classes.  
  
Despite the damage and the sorrow for those missing, Xavier had ordered that everyone continue classes. On that, they were taught without teachers, just basic study periods when rumors could spread. All the X-Men were busy trying to locate Magneto.  
  
As far as rumors went, Simon had been proclaimed the main hero. Add and Cyclops seemed to stand in the sidelines. That seemed apparent. People seemed to pay more attention to him when he spoke, and gave him more respect. It made Chiara feel sick.  
  
It had been two days since the raid on the mansion. She hadn't been used to sleeping in an empty room for many months, so she, Alyx, Twist and Streak had all moved into one.  
  
Twist seemed to be taking a turn for the worst. With Silence missing she refused to speak or leave the dorm. She felt guilty for leaving him to be captured. She blamed the rest of them for holding her back. She rarely ate and she skipped classes. Even though 'classes' were currently social hours, they were still being graded on attendance.  
  
That evening when Twist had forbidden them all from the dorm in a fury, Chiara made her way downstairs to the front hall. Kurt was transporting last minute conference students up the chasm that used to be the staircase.  
  
She watched him for a while, studying the way his body seemed to liquefy into a puff of blue smoke and then reappear from thin air. She wondered what it felt like and how much concentration it took.  
  
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door that awoke her from her thoughtfulness. She looked over towards the heavy oak doors, wondering who it could be. They'd all been given guidelines on welcoming people into the mansion, specifically new students. No one else in the hall seemed to hear. Chiara cautiously reached for the handle and pulled it open.  
  
"Can I-"she started, but then she realized who was standing in the doorway and stopped. "-help you?" she finished, more quietly.  
  
A young man was standing in the window of light that filtered into the dark, and still smoke-smelling hall. He wasn't much taller than Chiara, but she still had to look up to meet his bright green eyes. He was carrying a bag over one shoulder, but it looked to small to mean he was staying long. Chiara felt her stomach drop.  
  
"Yeah, is this the Xavier School?" he asked, trying to look past her at the damage.  
  
"Er..." Chiara said, words seemed to have stop temporarily so her brain could unscramble. Was is the Xavier School? Of course it's the Xavier School, you twat, she told herself, that's what it says on the fucking sign outside! She glanced back at the damage behind her, and opened the door a little wider. "It used to be."  
  
The young man looked impressed by the lack of something smoldering in the room. Of course, he hadn't known it used to be double staircase.  
  
"Oh..." he said. "Okay... can you let me in, I need to speak to someone." He said, trying to move in past her. Chiara half-tripped over trying to fail his entry.  
  
"Who're you visiting?" she asked, "You have to be a-"she started, but her vision dropped from his as she tried to think of the right words.  
  
"A?" he asked. "Oh... right." He flashed her a white smile. "I'm a hypnotist." He said. Chiara wouldn't be able to guess anything less with those eyes. "I'm here to see Twist Kain." He said. "She is here?"  
  
"In physical form, yes..." Chiara sighed. "You're... Connor, right?" she remembered that Twist had written to a friend and that he could be coming to visit.  
  
"Yeah." He said. "That's me. Can I come in now?" Chiara nodded and let him in. She watched him walk over to Kurt and begin to ask him what had happened. She lent on the door, which shut.  
  
Suddenly Alyx was beside her, smiling slightly.  
  
"Who's that?" she asked, smiled broadening.  
  
"Twist's friend, Connor." Chiara said in monotone.  
  
"He's h-" Alyx started.  
  
"I know." She replied in the same tone.  
  
"Go talk to him." Alyx grinned, scratching a crystal-encrusted arm.  
  
"What! No!" Chiara said. "I just answered the door for him like some total retard. What am I supposed to say? 'Hi. My name's Chiara and I'll be your mentally slow door-opener any day'?" Alyx laughed.  
  
"Just go!"  
  
"You go." Chiara said. "You can actually have a relationship."  
  
"No. You go." Alyx insisted. "You don't have to touch him!"  
  
Chiara threw her a look. She sighed and began to walk. As soon as she did, Connor placed a hand on Kurt's shoulder and the two of them were transported up to the level above. Connor said what looked like a thank you and started off down the burnt corridor towards the dorms.  
  
Chiara looked back at Alyx and glared. Alyx's attention was diverted somewhere else. She was looking at something on the ground. She bent and picked it up.  
  
"Look." She said as Chiara came next to her. It was a piece of paper, folded and crinkled from being looked at many times. On it were written the names,  
  
sub. 1: Erickson, Simon, sub 2: Goeth, Gaudi Von, sub. 3: Kain, Feannan, sub. 4: Koussa, Trinity, sub. 5: Michaels, Boyd, sub.6: Myste, Chiara, sub. 7: Windle, Lucea, sub. 8: Wood, Cathrine, sub. 9: Yuako Chanda, Mingmei.  
  
"That blonde kid." Alyx interrupted Chiara's reading suddenly.  
  
"What?" Chiara asked, eyes still following the names and room numbers on the paper.  
  
"There was a little blonde girl, she asked where Twist and Cat and I's dorm was." Alyx said. Chiara nodded.  
  
"She asked me where Silence's was too." The puzzle pieces were beginning to fit together. "We should tell the Professor." Alyx nodded and the two of them started for Kurt. 


	13. Helping Twist

The Professor seemed grateful for their information. His face had brightened when they'd come in, and hardened with thought as he looked over their paper. He nodded and sent them out, reaching for his PA.  
  
"What do you think it means?" Alyx asked as they made there way back along the hall to the dormitories.  
  
"It's the kids they wanted to kidnap." Chiara said, speaking from knowledge. Alyx looked at her confused. "On that list they've got a shape shifter, a healer, a telekinetic, a kid with power over water, a mind alterer, a wind maker, a girl who has power over tectonic plates and a guy who can knock you out with a single look. And me. They've got electricity too. But they only got a few of us." She sighed.  
  
"But... why?" Alyx asked, still confused. They'd reached the girl's dormitory hallway now. They could hear people talking hurriedly behind the doors.  
  
"Cause' Magneto wants to make a perfect mutant with our powers." She said. Alyx opened her mouth to say something again, but as they stopped at their door it came ajar and someone came out. It was a few moments before they came to terms with who it was.  
  
"Don't go in there." Connor said. He was moving something in his pocket as he turned to look at the two of them. "What did you say your name was again?" he added on a side-note. Alyx and Chiara both responded at the same time. Alyx gave her full name. Connor suppressed a laugh.  
  
"What's wrong with Twist?" Alyx asked.  
  
"She's..." he started, looking for the right words. "She's a little upset right now. I don't think she wants to be disturbed."  
  
Chiara nodded, dumbfounded. Alyx kept talking.  
  
"Oh... okay. Did you help her at all?"  
  
"I hope so." Connor said.  
  
"We just found a piece of paper with the kidnapped students names on it." Alyx said. "And some others. We took it to the Professor, he said it should help re-locate them. We could tell Twist that, right?"  
  
"I'm on the paper." Chiara erupted suddenly. Connor looked at her and then continued talking to Alyx.  
  
"Maybe, I'll go back in and tell her." He reached for the door handle.  
  
"We'll do it." Alyx said, taking the handle as well. Chiara watched her hand touch Connor's. She fell like a moron. Connor looked at Alyx for a moment, thinking.  
  
"Fine." He said, letting go. He ran a hand through his long dark hair. "I'll be in the library if she throws anything at you." He smiled at Alyx and left them.  
  
Alyx's blue eyes watched him go down the corridor. Chiara's grey one's stared at her.  
  
"I hate you." She spat, exaggerating her annoyance greatly.  
  
"Oh come on." Alyx said jovially, "All you have to do is talk!"  
  
"I did talk. And when I did he ignored me." She sulked.  
  
"So say something interesting." Alyx smiled brightly. Chiara frowned.  
  
"I've got nothing interesting to say. I'm boring. I'm so boring my parents couldn't even spell my fucking name right. At least you can wow him with your heritage as a half-German Native American." She sighed. Alyx began to open the door.  
  
"Well... if you don't at least attempt something in the next two days, I'm going full-throttle flirting mode." She giggled.  
  
"I bet he has a girlfriend." Chiara said to spite her. Alyx opened the door. It was dark inside. The only light was from the golden glow of sunlight through the drawn curtains.  
  
"Twist?" Alyx said. Twist was sitting on her bed, head down on her knees. Chiara saw white bandages on her wrists.  
  
"Fuck off." Twist said, looking up at them. Her eyes were red, not just from crying.  
  
"Twist. We've got news about Silence." Alyx said. They sat down on the bed next to her, cautious.  
  
"Connor didn't help." Twist said. She pressed a finger angrily to her bandaged wrist. "He made it worse."  
  
"We know what they've been planning to do." Alyx said. "Magneto wants him for an experiment." Twist made an angry noise in her throat.  
  
Chiara looked around the room. All the china decorations near Cat's bed had been removed. The two crossed arrows above Alyx's bed where gone. Connor had taken away every sharp thing in the room.  
  
"I want to kill Magneto." Twist said.  
  
"So we will." Chiara said suddenly. The two of them looked at her.  
  
"I thought the X-Men would do it?" Alyx said. "Chiara, we can't!"  
  
"Whatever." Chiara said, standing up and going to the door. "But I don't think X can just let us sit here while they go get our friends. We're involved too now. I'm going downstairs to practice."  
  
"What do you mean involved?" Twist asked.  
  
"We were supposed to be part of the experiment too." Chiara said, looking at her. "But we escaped. I don't think the Dream Team can do this without us."  
  
Twist nodded. Her eyes weren't red anymore. She seemed to have accepted the fact that Silence was gone for now and she had the chance to get him back.  
  
"Okay." She said. Chiara smiled and left the room. 


	14. Newly Pathetic

Chiara checked her watch as she came out of the dorm. It was almost seven. She hadn't practiced in a while. The recreation room door had been cut off by debris from one of the small staircase explosions.  
  
When she was almost at the stairs, someone walked into her.  
  
"Whoa..." a voice said. The person grabbed her wrists to stop her falling over. Chiara looked up and groaned. It was Simon.  
  
"What do you want?" she asked, shaking her wrists free.  
  
"Who's the new kid?" Simon asked.  
  
"What new kid?" she asked, not wanting to look at him, but finding it hard.  
  
"Hypnotist - dark hair - green eyes – new kid?"  
"Oh. Connor?" Chiara asked.  
  
"Connor..." Simon said, nodded and looking thoughtful. "Oh. You like him?"  
  
"What? No I don't!" Chiara said, starting to leave. He grabbed her arm, pulling her back.  
  
"You're talking to a psychic here, babe." He said, then smiled.  
  
"Fuck off Simon." She said, but didn't move.  
  
"Fine." He said, turning and going back the way he'd come.  
  
"Wait!" Chiara called suddenly, but she hadn't needed too. He'd already turned around."  
  
"Yes?" he asked. Chiara closed her mouth.  
  
"You were on the list." She said. His eyes looked confused for a moment, then he nodded in understanding as he read her mind.  
  
"I've got fans everywhere." He smiled finally and disappeared, literally. Chiara sighed loudly. For once she'd almost forgotten Simon existed and then he had to show up again, just as egotistical, just as arrogant, just as... hot...  
  
Chiara threw her thoughts aside, angry with herself. Her friends were in danger and now all she could think about was boys. She'd never used to be like this. Of course there was the period when she moved from England and discovered that the opposite gender could actually be attractive, but she'd never had a boyfriend. Maybe having one would just fuck her up even more. She'd let Simon be Simon and let Alyx have Connor. It would be fine.  
  
Kurt transported her down to the ground floor and she made her way to the door to the rec room. It was empty, cold and dark. She shivered and turned the light off but it'd stopped working. She sighed loudly and sat down at the piano, pushing back the cover.  
  
She closed her eyes, fingers positioned, and tried to relax. She took another breath and started her piece. She opened her eyes again, but didn't really have to concentrate on the music she was playing. She watched her fingers, the hairs on her arms raising at the strangeness of being in an almost black room playing the Moonlight Sonata.  
  
She stopped half-way through the first movement. She had the odd feeling that someone was spying on her, but she couldn't be sure. Her mind flashed back to the mansions raid and she turned around quickly.  
  
There was someone spying on her, but they obviously weren't meaning to intrude. Connor was standing outside the room, but looking in. She could see him through the open door.  
  
"You play?" he asked. She got up off the stool.  
  
"A bit." she shrugged. I am such an ass, She thought, I've been playing eleven fucking years!  
  
"You're good." He smiled helpfully.  
  
"Thanks." Chiara said. She paused then continued. "I think Twist is going to be fine." She said. "Alyx is up with her now." Connor nodded.  
  
"Good." He said. "She never talked about this Silence character when she was NYC, I suppose I can't do much for her anymore."  
  
"You're leaving?"  
  
"I might." He said. "There's not much to stay for."  
  
"Oh right... with everyone wanting to kill us and everything." Chiara smiled. Connor reflected the expression.  
  
"Alyx is nice." He said. Chiara almost sighed.  
  
"Yeah." She smiled. "I haven't been here long, but she's cool."  
  
"I was thinking if-" Connor started, but Chiara checked her watch.  
  
"I have to go." She said quickly. She had nowhere to be, she just wanted to leave. She turned and quickly made her way back to Kurt. As soon as she was on the top level again, she ran for the dorm rooms, feeling, if possible, more pathetic.  
  
She had barely any powers. It was rumored she was a headcase, and now she couldn't even talk to men. Being a mutant sucked. 


	15. Orange Eyes

The shock of the mansion raid weighed heavily on the students for the next few days. In the first three days five students had been withdrawn by their parents to be taken home and not return.  
  
Chiara put down the book she was trying to study with a bang on the desk. The sudden noise in the small dorm made Streak, Twist and Alyx jump. Chiara glared at the page. George Washington glared back serenely. One by one her roommates settled back into their studying as if she had remained silent.  
  
Her uprising speech - or sentence – about going to find Magneto themselves had not been put into action at the slightest. On the contrary, a sullen quiet and depression had settled over the mansion. They seemed totally hopeless, preferring to study and sleep rather than question the rules.  
  
The X-men Dream Team had been darting in and out of the mansion on a regular basis. They hadn't been present for most classes, leaving their students to a long hour of sitting in silence with a book. Whispers in the corridors rumored they'd found Magneto's location.  
  
"This sucks." Chiara said loudly. Streak, Twist and Alyx stiffened again.  
  
"I know, the whole thing with the apple tree and the no lying-" Alyx started.  
  
"No!" Chiara snapped. She stood up and pushed her chair angrily under the desk. "It sucks not knowing /I!" she mumbled to herself, leaving the room in a temper.  
  
The corridors were as deathly quiet as the room had been. She stormed down the stairs. The quiet sound of the television was coming from the living room. She walked through it, listening to the sound of the erupted static as she passed through. It was almost comforting.  
  
She walked out into the hall, trying to think why she'd left the dorm altogether. She sat down on one of small staircases, propping her head on her hands. She sighed loudly. She needed to see Xavier.  
  
She stood up again, turning up the stairs to find the Professor's office. She walked straight into someone.  
  
"Sorry," she excused, not looking up to see who it was. She was too suspicious it could be Simon again. She continued up the stairs.  
  
"Whoa... wait." Said the person she knocked into. Chiara looked back. It was Connor. She almost sighed, but didn't. He seemed to be holding his arm, wincing slightly.  
  
"Sorry." She said again. "Are you okay?"  
  
"Yeah... you just hit my arm. I guess I under estimated Twist's TK abilities. She threw a pencil at me." He said. Chiara smiled slightly.  
  
"Sharp pencil?" she asked walking down one step, then another. He nodded.  
  
"Yeah. Where're you going?" he asked, "You seem to be in a hurry."  
  
"X's office. I want to see what's happening with this whole... student thing." She said.  
  
"Mind if I come?" he asked. "I'd like to find out as much as I can about this Silence guy." Chiara bit her lip.  
  
"Well... I was planning to scream at him, but if you can stand that..." she trailed off, pleased that he was smiling. He followed her the rest of the way up the stairs then walked next to her through the classroom corridor.  
  
"So." He said, looking at the doors they were passing, each labeled with the class name.  
  
"So." She repeated. "You decided whether if yours going to stay yet?" he asked. He looked back at her, eyes meeting hers quickly.  
  
"I think I might." He said. Chiara felt herself start to blush. She looked down at her feet.  
  
"Good then." She said. "I could use another newbie here to pretend I'm superior to." Connor laughed slightly.  
  
"Are we lost?" he asked.  
  
"I... I hope not." Chiara said, looking around. They'd come to some intersection with a new stairs case and the continuing classroom doors. "I've never taken this detour before."  
  
"I think it's this way." He said, pointing down the stairs. "I was getting back from the dorms this way," he finalized, gesturing the main corridor.  
  
"I know my way from the dorms." Chiara said. Without waiting for a reply she grabbed his arm and pulled him in the opposite direction.  
  
"Okay..." Connor said quietly without protest. She let go of his hand and turned a corner. Before them stretched another dark hallway with a warm, yellow light coming from the end. A silhouette of a man in a wheelchair was coming towards them.  
  
"Miss. Myste." He nodded, stopping in front of them. "Mr...." He started, looking at Connor.  
  
"Larson." Connor said. "Connor Larson." He extended a hand for the Professor to shake. Xavier ignored him.  
  
"Is there a problem Miss. Myste? Or are you just lost? Together?" he said with a slight smile. Chiara narrowed her eyes.  
  
"No." she said firmly. "I just wanted to ask you if you had heard anything more about Magneto's location."  
  
"We do." X said. "But why should I alert you to those matters?"  
  
"They're my friends!" Chiara said loudly. "I was on that list! They could come for me next! I deserve to know!" The Professor gazed at her for a moment. Chiara looked away, not wanting him in her mind. Connor looked confused.  
  
"I think anything could help right now." He explained to the Professor. Chiara was about to snap at him, but she didn't. Xavier sighed.  
  
"We've located him on the Canadian border." He said. "I won't tell you where. I do not want you to disobey me, Chiara." He gave her a look. Chiara nodded once and started to walk again.  
  
"Thank you." Connor said quickly. He rushed after her, catching her arm.  
  
"What?" Chiara said fiercely, stopping and looking at him.  
  
"You got what you wanted, why are pissed off again?" he asked.  
  
"I didn't get what I wanted. I don't want to sit here and not be able to know what's happening around me." She said, pulling her arm away. Connor was about to say something else, but Chiara didn't let him. She turned and walked away quickly.  
  
Connor watched her disappear through the halls. He sighed loudly, running a hand through his hair. After a moment, he glanced back the way they'd come and then followed her slowly back to the dorms.  
  
Watching him where a pair of orange eyes, luminescent, but he had not seen them. Xavier stood up, pushing the wheelchair aside. He watched as Connor's figure finally disappeared from view and then morphed into a woman with blue textured skin and slicked back orange hair. Her glowing eyes flared again.  
  
She watched the corridor for another moment and then turned back into the shadows. 


	16. Cerebro

Chiara went and slept in her old dorm that night. She seemed to be heading in a downward direction in terms of tolerance. She didn't want to talk to anybody for a long time. In the morning she woke up and went down for breakfast in her pajamas.  
  
She got herself a bowl of dry cereal and went back upstairs, ignoring the three students sipping coffee in the kitchen. She took a mouthful as she climbed the stairs and threw the cornflakes away in the trash can in her dorm. She lazily shut the door and started to change, pulling off her goldfish pajama pants.  
  
She reached for a pair of her jeans that were hanging over the back of her bed. There was a knock on the door. She swallowed, then sighed pulling the door open.  
  
"What?" she asked as she looked up. Connor was standing in the doorway, waiting for her. "Shit!" she screamed, slamming the door in his face and pulling on her trousers.  
  
The sound of Connor's voice came through the door after a moment.  
  
"Er... sorry." He said.  
  
"What the fuck are you doing in the Girl's Corridor at eight in the morning!?" she shouted, not yet opening the door. There was silence for another moment.  
  
"Xavier needs to talk to you." He said. Chiara sighed loudly again and pulled on a clean t-shirt reading SDR-R. She opened the door finally and brushed past Connor without looking at him.  
  
"Sorry." He repeated slowly, following her.  
  
"Whatever." Chiara told him, "Just forget about it. Please." She kept her head down as she went down the stairs. "What did X want to talk to me about?"  
  
"Both of us actually." Connor said. "He just wanted to know what he said when he spoke to us last night."ï   
  
"Why? Can't he remember?" Chiara asked, turning into the main hall.  
  
"Er... no, apparently. I told him, but then he asked me to go get you for clarification." He said.  
  
"Oh." Chiara mumbled. A sleepy Kurt transported them up. Chiara started for the office with her head still down.  
  
"I'm still sorry." Connor said quickly.  
  
"S'fine." She muttered, still not looking at him. She wished he'd just forget it like she'd asked. She knocked on X's door, but Connor pushed it open.  
  
"He's expecting us." He said, letting her go through first. She did so and went into the office. The Professor was indeed expecting them. He sat in his wheelchair behind his desk. His deep blue eyes followed the two of them until they stood in front of him.  
  
"What did I say to you last night, Miss. Myste?" he asked as Connor shut the door.  
  
"You said you found Magneto on the Canadian border." Chiara said in an annoyed tone. She crossed her arms. "And you said you didn't want to tell us exactly where, cause' we're students." Xavier nodded slightly for a long time.  
  
"Thank you." He said, looking out his window.  
  
"Did you forget?" Chiara asked tediously.  
  
"No. It wasn't me you spoke with." He said. "It was an imposter. A shape-shifting mutant named Mystique." He said.  
  
"A what?" Connor asked.  
  
"Shape-shifter. She can take on the appearance of any existing person. She works in close alliance with Magneto. I think she may have installed this information with you two in the hopes that you'd tell someone and then lead the other students Eric needs to his hideout. I have to investigate if the facts are true, though."  
  
"Oh." Chiara said. She didn't quite understand, but the Professor seemed sure of himself. His eyes were darting back and forth. He was thinking wildly. He began to nod again, talking to himself.  
  
"Yes, yes. But then... no. Like b-. No, too dangerous. No... I can't." he sighed and closed his eyes, taxing his brain. "Yes." He said after a moment of silence. He opened his eyes and looked at the two of them. "Come with me." He smiled. "I'd like to show you something."   
  
They followed him down to the lower levels. Chiara had never been down here before. It was where the jet functions were and the medic bay. She looked over at Connor, wondering if he'd been down here too. He'd only just arrived, but already he seemed much more on top of things than she was.  
  
They went down an elevator and appeared in a long corridor.  
  
"Where are we going?" Connor asked.  
  
"You'll see." The Professor said. He smiled slightly. He rolled down to the very end of the corridor where a huge metal door stood imposing in the shape of an X.  
  
A blue light flickered from the center of the twenty-fourth letter.  
  
"Welcome Professor." Said a metallic voice. The doors spread and the three of them went in.  
  
Before them was a wide, spherical room. It was totally tiled with what looked like blue reflectors of some kind. There was a long, thin platform that they were walking on. Chiara noticed the cold metal under her bare feet. She violently shivered suddenly.  
  
The Professor stopped at the end of the platform. He picked up something suspended at the end.  
  
"Where are we?" Connor finally asked, looking for something other than blue tile around the sphere.  
  
"This is Cerebro." Xavier said. "It simply magnifies my power. I can find any mutant or any human using this technology." He said, sighing slightly. His voice had taken on a sad tone. Chiara wondered why but she didn't speak. The old man lifted the instrument over his head, adjusting it around his ears. "Don't move." He said quietly. Chiara obeyed exactly.  
  
It took a moment for the effect to work. The Professor gripped the sides of the table before him and stiffened. Suddenly, they seemed to be shooting through an eerie blackness. Chiara felt propelled back, but there was no wind to do so. Then, everything stopped. In the pristine silence that followed, Chiara looked about what had once been the sphere.  
  
Lit by tiny yellow trails of glitter was an outline of the worlds' continents. They were slowly zooming up on random places, and then coming back to the entire picture again.  
  
White lights faded onto the scape. Some moved slightly, others were completely still. They clustered almost everywhere, heavily concentrated in the outlines of, what she guessed was, India and China.  
  
"These lights," the Professor said, "Represent every human being in the world. All constantly breathing in and out and going by their daily business." Chiara thought about maybe counting the dots to see if there really were six billion, but the she realized that was completely stupid.  
  
The white dots disappeared. Red ones reappeared. Chiara glanced over at Connor. In the red light he looked completely dramatic, unsmiling. She frowned and looked back at Cerebro's projection.  
  
"The red ones," Xavier smiled, "are mutants."  
  
Immediately, Chiara was filled with a slight sense of relief. The red dots were scattered everywhere. Her eyes floated to the East Coast, seeing great gatherings of lights on the sea bank. She searched for a sign of Salem on the map, but it wasn't detailed enough to find it. But, now she knew they weren't alone in the world.  
  
They moved in on the United States. Figures began to appear life-size around them. Chiara saw a young woman crouching in fear, a tail curling out from the side of her elegant business suit. Another one reappeared, a young boy walking hand and hand with his father.  
  
"We are the hunted." Xavier said solemnly. "So those of us who can blend in are the ones who are blessed." He closed in on Canada. "Now that I know a main location to search in, maybe I can find your friends."  
  
Chiara watched the mist of red dots. She folded her arms, thinking it would take sometime. Quickly, a figure appeared from the abyss. Another followed almost immediately. Chiara saw Silence, then Yuako. More figures became slightly more apparent, but she couldn't make out their distinct faces. She guessed they were Lucea, Gaudi and Cat.  
  
"That's them." Chiara said hurriedly. Connor looked at her. Yuako looked close enough to talk to. She was sitting down, hugging her knees. Silence was standing, yelling at something... or someone.  
  
Then Xavier said. "We've found them." 


	17. Child of Obliviousness

Chiara ran back to her room. She burst through the door with a loud sound. The other three were still in bed. Streak sat up and hit her head.  
  
"What the hell..." she grumbled.  
  
"They found them!" Chiara said in an excited voice. Twist looked up.  
  
"Five more minutes." She said groggily.  
  
"Found who?" Asked Alyx, who'd sat up like Streak, though not hitting her head on the low beam.  
  
"The missing students, idiot." Chiara said. "With Cerebro! The Professor and Connor and I just found them."  
  
"Missing students?" Alyx asked. The other three stared at her. "Oh right!" she said quickly, "Gaudi and Lucea and stuff." Streak rolled her eyes.  
  
"Connor?" Twist asked, rubbing her head.  
  
"Yeah, whatever." Chiara shrugged. "You lot could look happier." She sat down on the end of Alyx's bed, frowning.  
  
"We're tired, Chiara!" Streak whined, suddenly loud.  
  
"Wait... he walked in on you changing?" Twist asked. Her eyes were fully open, eyebrows arched.  
  
"What?" Chiara asked. It took a moment for the fact that Twist had read her mind to settle in. Streak started laughing. "Oh... yeah. Well, I opened the door. I thought he was girl." She said quietly and shrugged again.  
  
"She's going red." Alyx said, crawling onto Twist's mattress to get an audience view.  
  
"I am not!" Chiara snapped, but she felt her cheeks anyway. The other three started laughing again. Their levity began to enrage her, but she shook it off. It was too early in the morning to be pissed at her friends.  
  
"Do you want any help?" Twist asked. The sight of a smile on her face was almost miraculous.  
  
"Help?" Chiara asked.  
  
"Yeah, with Connor?" Twist giggled. Chiara rolled her eyes, coughing a laugh and trying to hide it.  
  
"I doubt it." She said. "I can't 'have 'relationships." She sighed, for the millionth time.  
  
"Why not?" Streak asked from the back. Chiara held up her right index finger.  
  
"Me." She said, holding up the other, "Connor." She made a spark fly between them with a crack that made the others jump. "Dead Connor."  
  
"Oh." Streak said in a small voice.  
  
"Okay... your first rule is don't ask him about his powers." Twist said, climbing over Alyx. "Don't ask him about old girlfriends, don't make him use his powers unless he wants to, if you don't like driving fast, do not go out with him, don't ask him about his parents, don't ask him about how he met me and whenever he asks, 'Are you okay?' respond truthfully cause otherwise he'll just ask again and it gets annoying." She finished with another smile.  
  
"Um, okay..." Chiara said slowly. "Thanks." She managed.  
  
"My work here is done." Twist said, clapping her hands and getting off her bed. "I'm going to shower." She said and left the dorm.  
  
"I knew you liked Connor." Alyx said with an air of pride. Chiara narrowed her eyes.  
  
"I know, Alyx... I told you." she said, almost laughing.  
  
"Yeah, but I knew anyway. I'll stay out of your way if you want. Simon Erickson is really hot... and then there's this new guy Marcus who-" she started.  
  
"Okay, Alyx." Streak said, covering Alyx's mouth. "Let's just focus on reality right now." Behind Streak's hand Alyx nodded. Streak took her arm away and sat opposite Chiara, next to Alyx. "So where'd the Professor say Silence and Yuako and the lot are?"  
  
"Vancouver. Or... New Westminster, just on the downtown outskirts." Chiara said. She wasn't quite sure what part of Canada Vancouver was in. The Cerebro map had been harder to read than most atlases she had to study. "The Professor said that he's going to try and get the Dream Team to set off tonight, place the mansion under high guard, but we have to go!" she said.  
  
"Why? It's going to be dangerous." Streak said.  
  
"Like I give a shit!" Chiara said, banging her fists on the mattress. "Yuako and Silence and everyone had to deal with it. If they hadn't fought we'd be the ones in Magneto's imprisonment. They want us too, anyway, what's to say this isn't a trap so they can kidnap us as well?" She spat. Streak was silent. Alyx seemed to have lost interest in being hyper.  
  
"They won't let us go." She said. "There's no way they'd jeopardize-" The door opened noisily. Storm was standing in the frame, a concerned look on her face.  
  
"Trinity, Chiara..." she said, looking at a piece of paper she had in her hand. "Come on. The Professor needs to talk to you." She glanced at Alyx. "Alyx... von Goeth?" she asked.  
  
Alyx sat up and nodded.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"You're coming too. Quickly now, we don't have much time." 


	18. Noise

Storm led them down into a bottom room. The metal walls seemed to glint hungrily at them. Storm pressed a button on the wall of the corridor.  
  
"Ororo." She said. A hidden door opened in the wall and she led them in. A group of students was standing in the room. They looked up as they entered.  
  
"Who's missing?" Cyclops asked from his place at the back of them room.  
  
"Twist and Khahara." Storm said. "I'll go and check again." She disappeared out of the room again. Chiara saw Alyx and Streak shiver in their pajamas. Most of the group looked like they'd just gotten up.  
  
She and Connor were the only ones really dressed, having already received news that morning. She glanced at her two cold friends and then walked over to him.  
  
"What's going on?" she asked.  
  
"I'm not sure." Connor asked. He looked down at her. "Are you okay?" Chiara remember what Twist had said. She looked back at him.  
  
"I'm confused." She said truthfully. "Does this mean we're going to Canada?"  
  
"Maybe. I've tried asking Cyclops, but he doesn't seem to want to talk."  
  
"He does that a lot."  
  
Connor laughed slightly. Chiara didn't smile back.  
  
"What? He doesn't. It's a serious condition of his." She said. Connor frowned for a moment, then realized she was kidding and smiled again. Chiara did the same. "Is X here?" she asked afterwards.  
  
"Somewhere." Connor responded. "I came down here with him, then when those two arrived he disappeared somewhere with Logan." He pointed towards Simon and Add.  
  
"Oh, them?" Chiara said. "They're very repellant." She looked back at Streak and Alyx who was talking quietly, throwing her looks. "Um... I'll be right back." She excused herself. She smiled at Connor quickly and went over to Alyx and Streak.  
  
"What are you talking about?" she asked, pointedly.  
  
"The weather." Streak said quickly.  
  
"That doesn't even fool me." Chiara smiled. The doors opened again. A disgruntled Twist appeared, wearing a crinkled pair of black jeans and purple halter. Her hair was wet and beginning to curl. Behind her were Storm and a young girl with completely white eyes. The girl hurried over to a young man with orange eyes and brown hair, who immediately took her in his arms.  
  
Twist stamped over to the other three.  
  
"What the fuck is going on?" she asked loudly, too loud.  
  
"Shh..." Alyx responded. Cyclops had climbed up a stair onto the platform in the room. He looked as thought he were about to make a huge speech, but then he spoke.  
  
"Simon Erickson." He said.  
  
"Here." Came from the crowd. Simon stood up, running a hand through his hair.  
  
"Alyx von Goeth."  
  
"Here?" Alyx said hopefully, not sure whether this was a role-call or not. Cyclops looked at her, displeased by her tone of voice. He looked back at his paper and checked her name.  
  
"Twist Kain." Twist gave her grumbled reply.  
  
"Trinity Koussa." Streak responded. The list continued until all nine of the students had been called.  
  
"You are required to return to your dorms and change into black clothing." Cyclops said, putting back his paper. "In one half hour you will return here. At the voice test you will speak your authentic first name. Tell no other student not involved in these activities what you are doing."  
  
A hand went up at the back. Add's.  
  
"Yes?" Cyclops asked.  
  
"Er... what are we doing? Why can't we tell anyone?" Add asked.  
  
"You're going to Canada to be part of an X-Men plan to recover five missing students." Cyclops said. A few whispers broke out in the crowd now that the mission had been confirmed. Chiara folded her arms. "If you do not wish to participate then you are welcome to stay." He said. No one spoke.  
  
"Why us?" Add asked afterwards.  
  
"A couple of your names appeared on a list found by a student." Cyclops said reluctantly, with a look at Storm. "Infiltrators on the night of the mansion raid were planning to capture them as well. The rest of you have been chosen on your links to those missing and your defensive abilities, which may be used. We understand that you would want to accompany us on this mission." He said slowly. Chiara knew he had not thought of that idea himself. She put up a hand.  
  
"What about Mystique?" she called. Cyclops looked at her.  
  
"Each of you will be asked a question on your identification to prove your authenticity." He said after a moment. "You're dismissed."  
  
Chiara could tell there were more questions. She grabbed onto Streak and Twist and pulled them and Alyx out of the room.  
  
"We're going to get Gaudi?!" Alyx squeaked.  
  
"It's about damn time." Twist smiled, cracking her knuckles. She escaped from Chiara's grasp and disappeared into the elevator.  
  
"I'll go with her. I need to borrow some black clothing anyway." Alyx said, following. Streak let go of Chiara's arm.  
  
"You got your mission then." She said bitterly.  
  
"I did..." Chiara said.  
  
"I hope," Streak said sourly, "that none of us will get hurt, because otherwise, it's really going to suck."  
  
"It wasn't my idea, Streak. I just wanted t-"  
  
"Whatever." Streak said. "I'm seventeen years old. I didn't plan on risking my life voluntarily at this age. But I'm going for Silence. I just hope we all come out alive." She turned and rushed down the corridor in a swish of yellow hair. Chiara folded her arms again. She waited until everyone was starting for the elevator before she began walking again.  
  
"So... you're first big fight, hmm?" came a voice from behind her. Chiara sighed. She thought she and Simon were through talking or even noticing each other. She stepped into the empty elevator.  
  
"Mutant-wise, yes." She said. Simon held the door open and followed her in. The doors closed around them, locking them together in a metal capsule. Chiara lent against the wall, trying to be as far away from him as possible.  
  
"You know what happens when you fight?" he asked, smiling slightly.  
  
"I smash up TVs?" Chiara asked wryly. Simon laughed slightly. Chiara didn't like that he found the memory funny.  
  
"It's like you're a new person. You don't think about your life. All it is, is you, your enemy and your powers." He narrowed his eyes and looked around the elevator.  
  
"Is this your way of flirting?" she asked. Simon laughed again for some time.  
  
"You're full of yourself, aren't you?" he grinned.  
  
"Of course I am. I'm a Myste." Chiara said cynically.  
  
"You don't have a codename yet, do you?" Simon asked finally. She felt stupid suddenly.  
  
"Is that your way of telling me I have to have duel personalities?" She asked.  
  
"Do you have any ideas?" he asked, ignoring her comment.  
  
"They're all lame."  
  
"Do you know what comes to mind whenever I think about your powers?"  
  
"Do I want to know?" Chiara asked. They stopped, but the doors didn't open. Simon smiled again.  
  
"Noise. Static, white noise." The doors opened, he stepped out. "How's that sound?"  
  
"What? Noise? Static? Or White?" Chiara asked, following him out.  
  
"Noise." Simon said. Chiara thought for a while. She wasn't anything powerful yet. She couldn't send huge blasts of electricity across open landscapes or bring down power lines or levitate herself on airwaves, but maybe... someday soon she would.  
  
"It sounds..." she said, stopping. She thought the word over in her head. The more times she ran it over her mind, the more it began to become her. He looked back at her. Reluctantly, she said, "...like me." 


	19. Guidelines

Now... I know in the movie, the Xmen Characters don't have their custom uniforms as they do in the comics, but the RP each character has their own customized uniform. I can't think of a way that they all have customized outfits in the fanfiction's circumstances, so they just DO. That's the only reason I can come up with...   
  
--------  
  
When Chiara went upstairs to the dorm, she found Twist and Streak already dressed in black, looking like Bond girls. Alyx was a different matter. She was holding up a pair of long grey trousers against her in the mirror.  
  
"Does it matter if it's a shade off?" she asked the mirror.  
  
"Just wear them." Twist said. "How long do we have left?"  
  
"Twenty minutes." Chiara said, opening the door again to go back to her own dorm.  
"Where were you?" Twist asked accusingly.  
  
"Downstairs." Chiara shrugged, going through the door. She went into her dorm and opened her wardrobe. If they knew she'd been talking to Simon after the shit they'd gone through with him, would it be a bad thing? She pulled out a pair of black jeans and a halter top. Even though it was cold outside, it was the only thing black that she had clean, considering she wore the color a lot.  
  
She pulled on the clothes and tied her hair up and went back to the dorm.  
"Chiara." Streak said as soon as she went in, "We're going to mid- fall Canada to fight, not a fashion show."  
  
"What?!" Chiara exclaimed helplessly. "I don't have much else that fits me anymore." Twist threw Streak a look.  
  
"I didn't know you wanted Connor that badly?" she smiled at Chiara.  
  
"It's not for Connor!" Chiara tried again, "I don't have anything else to wear!"  
  
"Here." Streak said, tossing her a heavy black sweater. Chiara caught it and spreading it out in front of her. Suddenly she enjoyed the idea of dressing to kill.  
  
"Oh... it's okay." she said. "I'll be too hot." she said throwing it back at Streak. Streak smiled in Twist's direction and the two started laughing.  
  
"What about the black shirt you were wearing yesterday?" she asked.  
  
"It's fine! Just shut up." Chiara said, wishing they'd let it rest. Alyx finally scuttled in from the bathroom wearing her grey jeans and a black turtleneck with the elbows cut off from her sharp crystals, her knees were the same way. She was rolling up the sleeves so they didn't come into contact with her wrist crystals.  
  
"We have five minutes to get down there." she said, pushing her hair back. The other three moved for the door and together, the four of them went down to the lower levels.  
  
They stopped at the door and Streak put her finger on the button in the wall.  
  
"Trinity Koussa." she announced and the wall opened. The four of them went in to find Khahara and the man with brown hair kissing. They stopped as soon as they heard the door opening. Chiara tried to stop laughing.  
  
"Jesus, Mark." Streak exclaimed on seeing them. They both seemed to have gone red.  
  
"Holy crap, what's with the opposite sex nowadays." Twist said, going to sit down against the wall.  
  
"That's very funny coming from you." Streak said, the rest of them sitting down across from her, "Mrs. Forbidden Tortured Love." Twist gave her withering look.  
  
Chiara glanced behind her shoulder at Khahara and Mark. They were sitting quietly. They looked like they were talking, but even in the echo-y room she couldn't hear what they were saying.  
  
She looked back at her group of friends, tapping her fingers on her black boots. She felt something was missing, obviously it was Yuako. She shivered suddenly, feeling cold in the underground room. The door opened again and Simon and Add came in.  
  
"I swear those two are a couple." Twist said snidely.  
  
"Don't say that!" Alyx said, looking over her shoulder.  
  
"Yeah... he's cute." Streak said, smiling slightly.  
  
"You think Simon's cute?" Twist and Chiara asked at the same time. If anyone would be fancying Simon, there was no way it'd be Streak.  
  
"Not Simon." Streak said... "The other one."  
  
"Add?!" Twist exclaimed. Streak started to blush, but the doors opened again and Connor walked in. He looked around slightly, finding no group to sit with he sat down on the platform and looked at the ceiling.  
  
"Oh, go talk to him!" Alyx said, tapping Chiara on the knee in a way that was sure to annoy her at some point.  
  
"No." Chiara said bluntly. "I'm giving up." she shrugged. The other three were about to object when the Professor appeared suddenly from a back door. He was followed by Storm and Wolverine and looked grim. The nine students in the room turned towards him from their separate corners.  
  
"I hope you all are clear on your guidelines." The professor said. "I realize that I have now put another nine of you in danger. That makes the fourteen of you my responsibility." he said lowly, then cleared his throat. "Under no circumstances are you to attack or use your powers in anyway unless in self-defense. You are to remain under supervision the entire time and follow team instructions." he announced.  
  
Chiara felt herself grow cold. So now they were just going as trainees? No using powers? Stay with the team? What was Xavier thinking?  
  
"Believe me," Xavier said, "I do not like to explain to you all that anyone of you who disregards these rules will be expelled from the school upon return." he recited. Though his voice did not show any sign of emotion, Chiara could tell he was bluffing. Expelling anyone of them from the school could lead directly to their deaths or corruption. But the threat worked. The others looked pale. The professor moved his wheelchair away from the center of the platform and Cyclops took his place.  
  
"In the next room, you will find your uniforms." he said. "Take them with you and you can change on the jet." he said. A door opened in the wall. The students looked confused for a moment, then Cyclops tilted his head to the opening and they began to go through.  
  
Chiara stood in the room confused, like almost everyone else. Mark and Streak seemed to have figured it out. They went over to group of closet cupboards and opened them up, taking out a uniform each. The others followed suit. Chiara looked at hers with an air of forboddance. It was purple and pale grey with some red. She felt herself gulp and the skin- tightness of it.  
  
A door opened at the end of the room and the Professor's voice escaped.  
  
"When you are all ready, I'd like you one by one to come in." 


	20. Wild Dogs

Chiara wasn't quite sure why they'd all been questioned by Xavier until she left the room. He was testing for authenticity. He was psychic... couldn't he just look in their eyes and know? He'd asked her what the name of her old school was and now, she was in the boarding area of the X-Jet.  
  
She let out a heavy breath, looking at the plane which was pointed towards the ceiling. Simon appeared by her shoulder.  
  
"Cool?" he asked. Chiara nodded slightly. "I'm learning to fly it, Noise." he said, raising his eyebrows as he used her new codename. Chiara threw him a fake smile.  
  
"That's fascinating!" she said with obviously pretend excitement. There was a metallic noise and the plane's ramp folded open. Logan looked out from inside and gestured for them to come in.  
  
One by one they went up. It was colder in the plane than it had been outside. Chiara dropped her uniform on a chair and rubbed her arms.  
  
"Shit, it's freezing." Twist said as she climbed into the cabin.  
  
"Watch your language." Logan said. Twist made a face behind his back and turned to Chiara.  
  
"You okay?" she asked. Chiara nodded again.  
  
"Just the usual confidence-rape from Simon." she said, rolling her eyes.  
  
"Aw... so nothing new." Twist said. Chiara shook her head. "You're quiet." Twist noticed. Chiara shrugged.  
  
"Don't feel like talking." she said. Twist nodded this time.  
  
"Okay." she said. After a few moments of silence the other six crowded into the jet and they were all forced to sit down in the multiple chairs in the cabin. Storm and Cyclops sat in the two pilot seats, Simon closely behind then, taking note of the control levels.  
  
"He seems slightly headstrong." Streak said quietly in Chiara's ear from where she was sitting behind.  
  
"He's Simon, Streak." Chiara said, folding her arms. They waiting in a haze of whispered conversations until the plane gave a sudden jolt and began to lift through the opening in the middle of the basketball court. She tied on her seatbelt quickly, realising he hadn't had it on.  
  
The jet lifted like a hovercraft, settling them all in silence, and the view of the outside world appeared in the windshield. They seemed to hang in the air for a moment before Cyclops hit a switch and they moved suddenly, jetting above the trees. Chiara glanced around her at those who were now her fellow-world savers... at least she liked to think of it that way.  
  
She lifted her two index fingers and played a spark in between them, bored.  
  
"Don't..." Alyx said from beside her. "Please..."  
  
"Why not?" Chiara asked.  
  
"Cause... I'm tense. And if you get too close to a gas leak we'd all blow up and die." Alyx said quickly. Chiara tried not to laugh, seeing that the girl was obviously frightened. She leaned over and put a hand on Alyx's arm.  
  
"I don't see a gas leak." she said.  
  
"Don't lean." Cyclops said quickly, without turning. Chiara sat back immediately, grumbling. Alyx tensed again.  
  
Chiara closed her eyes, trying to think of something to relax herself. She settled on Cyclops being attacked by wild dogs, and that seemed to work. She was not aware that she fell asleep.  
  
She opened her eyes when something in the plane gave a huge metallic groan. She looked past the back of her seat, seeing no puncture in the cabin.  
  
"Hey, she's awake." Twist said suddenly, coming and sitting in the empty seat next to Chiara.  
  
"I fell asleep?"  
  
"Yeah, for about and hour and half." Twist shrugged. She was wearing her uniform. The black stretchy fabric seemed to fit her skinny form perfectly. Her hands were cloaked with long black gloves and she had a belt on with an X in the middle.  
  
"I was have a good dream." Chiara smiled, glancing at where Cyclops was still sitting in the cock pit.  
  
Twist handed her her uniform. Chiara realised it must have fallen off her lap.  
  
"You need to change. There's a place with a curtain in the back." she said. Chiara nodded and undid her seatbelt. She walked slowly into the back on the plane. Kurt was sitting against one of the walls, muttering something to himself. Behind her, her friends and the other students were sitting in their seats talking idly.  
  
Chiara slid open the curtain and closed it behind her. The area behind was probably only three square feet in diameter. She signed loudly and pulled off her halter shirt.  
  
She emerged a few minutes later and shuffled embarressed back to her seat. The boots were uncomfortable... she could barely move... how was she supposed to fight again?  
  
"Nice wardrobe, Chi." Simon said from in front of her. "Is it skintight?"  
  
Chiara forced herself to glare at him, but she felt herself growing red and hot. She moved out of her seat again and walked into the dingy back of the plane. 


	21. Nightcrawler's Advice

M'kay... people wanted more Kurt?  
  
I give you..:  
  
More Kurt. =)  
  
Badly recreated... but yeah... ---------------  
  
Chiara slunk back against the wall. She could hear Simon's voice even from back here, he was so obnoxious. His comment had brought back memories she'd wished had been left undisturbed.  
  
She sighed and banged her head against the metal wall.  
  
"Ow." she said quietly, rubbing the back of her skull. She'd under- estimated how hard the walls were. She pressed her lips together, frustrated.  
  
Kurt was still whispering in the corner. She looked up at him.  
  
"Could you be quieter please?" she asked.  
  
"I'm whispering." Kurt said nervously. "I just..." he began. Chiara shook her head.  
  
"It's fine." she said. "Just forget about it." she sighed and closed her eyes. She heard a noise, a rustling, close to her ear. She opened it's eyes again, seeing Kurt sitting cross-legged in front of her. She bit her lip, not sure how to react.  
  
"You're frightened?" Kurt asked, his pointed teeth showing. He would have been vaguely creepy, save for his famous good nature.  
  
"Not frightened... just... I don't know what to expect." she shrugged, folding her arms. Kurt smiled shyly.  
  
"You're frightened." he said again, but this time it was not a question. "It's good. You shouldn't be over confident in this situation, fraulein." he encouraged. "Fear is a good educator." Chiara tried to smile, but it was hard. She had taught herself not to be fearful in these situations.  
  
"I'd prefer to be confident." she said. But she was anything but. Nightcrawler gave an awkward shrug.  
  
"I'd advise you to do your best," he started, "but I don't think you'll listen to me."  
  
"I'll listen... I just..." Chiara tried to think of something to say. The only thing she'd seen Kurt do was become a human elevator. Kurt frowned slightly.  
"You're not used to being a mutant, are you?" he asked, not waiting for her to finish. Chiara shook her head. "I never thought my abilities could be for any more than entertainment. I am blessed." he said, making the sign of the cross. "This is what our abilities are for, strengthening faith." he looked at her with yellow-orange eyes. Chiara looked back.  
  
"Thanks..." she said. What Kurt had said, even through the heavy accent and Christian moments, had made sense. So now at least she had the confidence in what she was doing.  
  
"Now, if you excuse me." Kurt said. He bowed his head a little and stood up. His hooved feet stepped away and he positioned himself at the back of the cabin again, crucifix in his fingers, and closed his eyes.  
  
Chiara watched him for a moment, then went back to the main cabin. Everyone seemed to have switched seats somehow and were in heavy discussion with each other. The girl Khahara was sitting in her seat now talking to Streak about something. Chiara sat down in one of the front seats, an empty one, next to Add, who was sleeping with his mouth open.  
  
She was easied back into a state of discomfort. She folded her arms and leant back in the seat, frowning. She heard Logan's voice say something darkly to Cyclops. It couldn't have been easy, shipping scared nine teenagers across the United States.  
  
She suddenly felt something enter the back of her mind, like static background noise on a radio show. A calm voice spoke into her head. "Go to sleep, Chiara." she felt suddenly sleepy. In the few moments before she fell asleep, she noticed everyone else was more or less doing the same thing. One of the Xmen had used some psychic abilty to have them all for asleep. How long was it till Vancouver? Where was she? The last questions echoed through her mind as she fell into a dark, haunted sleep.  
  
----------- Aaaaand crap chapter over... pokes it evil thing... 


	22. The Subject of Death

Chiara opened her eyes again, after what had felt like two seconds. Though now it was dark outside and the cabin was silent she felt like she'd barely slept, her slumber was so riddled with nightmares. She sat up straight, feeling her seat-belt tight around her waist and her back crack as the joints realigned.

She put a hand to the back of her head, wishing above anything that she had an Advil or something to put the pain to rest. Her eyes were sore and red, she could presume. She tugged hard at the seat belt and it sprang apart, letting her inhale deeply. She stood up and looked around. Cyclops looked over his shoulder and gave her a look, but didn't say anything.

Chiara moved down the aisle, her legs stiff. She wished she had a watch so as to find how long she'd been asleep. Everyone was sleeping, all looking totally peaceful. She imagined, if they'd had the same kind of dreams as her, they wouldn't look so at rest.

The lights in the back of the plane had been dimmed so that it was easier to sleep, even though they had no choice with some psychic telling them all to anyway. The plane gave a slight rattle as the wind beat against the sides. Chiara looked down over the seats again, glancing at her friends, suddenly worried for their safety.

A pair of glowing green eyes suddenly made her jump.

"Shit!" she started, as Simon noticed her reaction and leaned forwards into the light.

"What?" he asked, eyes no longer glowing, just deeply green. Chiara frowned.

"You're not asleep?" she asked.

"Why should I be?" he asked, taking his feet down from where they were on the back of Streak's seat and motioning for her to take the seat next to him. Chiara thought about it a moment, then moved awkwardly past him to the chair. Once seated, she looked back at him, finding him smiling. She shivered slightly and glared at him.

"But the voice thingy... didn't it put you to sleep?" She asked. Simon laughed shortly.

"No." he said, then explained. "Why should I have? I can repel psychic orders, nothing special." he shrugged. Chiara bit her lip, wanting to ask how, but not wanting to speak to him. He read her mind anyway.

"It's all in the protest. Why should you do something just cause someone wants you to? Believe that hard enough and the need to follow commands disappears." he finished, leaning back in his seat. "You look tired. Sure you slept?" he asked. Chiara looked over at him again to find her eyes lock with his uncomfortably again.

"I just had bad dreams." she said quietly.

"Like what?"

"We all died. Well... first Yuako and everyone was dead, and then we went and died too." she sighed. It'd been more complex than that, but she didn't want to recall the images again.

"Death is bad?" Simon pondered out loud. Chiara narrowed her eyes. She didn't need one of these talks again.

"It was in my dream." she said finally, leaning back in the plane seat. They were both silent for a long time. Chiara sighed quietly eventually. Death was bad for her, yes. It'd always been a part of her life. Her father gave assassination orders for a living and her mother had been killed when she was eleven years old by the IRA. Yes, death was bad, but she'd thought Simon was the last person to question that fact. He seemed to enjoy life so much all the time. She wished she had a watch again.

"You'd think we'd be used to death now." Simon said, looking up at her from where he was slouched in his seat.

"I guess." Chiara shrugged, looking at her fingernails. She could guess what he was about to say next. He was going to go on about the nuclear bombs and the wars.

"It's human nature to destroy." he said.

"What about Greenpeace people. They try and... un-destroy?" Chiara asked, randomly trying to find an argument.

"Freaks of nature." Simon smiled.

"And what about us?" she asked ultimately. "We're trying to save the world from being destroyed. We're freaks too?"

"We're mutants; guaranteed freaks." he said, eyes glittering and smile growing wider. "Humans are a thing of the past." Chiara looked away for lack of anything else to say. They were the evolved state. They were the future of the human race. There was another long awkward silence again.

"I'm sorry about what I said before." Simon said eventually, on a different note. Chiara looked over at him, confused. "About your... uniform." he said, almost embarrassed. Chiara smiled slightly.

"Whatever." she said. "I'd already forgotten about it." She hadn't totally, but now that he'd apologized for treating her like an object, it seemed like she'd made a big deal out of nothing. The plane rattled again but the sound was different. Less metallic and more... solid..? There was a sudden stirring in the plane as everyone woke up.

"Where are we?" Streak croaked from in front of them. "God... I had the worst nightmare. Add was-" she began, but couldn't finish. The plane gave a massive jump and then thudded onto something solid.

"No one move!" Cyclops shouted from the front, raising a hand. Immediately, everyone froze, tense and alert despite their bad sleep. Chiara looked over the rows of seats, seeing him talking to Logan and Ororo.

"What's going on?" she whispered to Simon as Cyclops dropped his hand.

"Isn't it obvious?" he grinned. "We've landed."

--------------------------

Okay... I hope this was less crappy. prays Cause' God knows the last one was terrible!

Chi and Simon needed some soul-talking...

thanks for you comments!


	23. Rings and Barbells

**Stoof:** Sorry about this chapter... absolutely nothing happens in it except for funnyness. I just wanted to write something funny, and this came out. I was planning this to be in the story all along, just not take up an entire chapter. But whatever... here it is. Another is coming soon, promise!  
------------------------

Outside if it was freezing cold. Snow coated the ground in a thin slushly layer over the streets and rooves of the town they'd landed just outside of. Chiara felt cold, but her skintight uniform kept her warm enough to stop from freezing.

She folded her arms around herself and shivered uncomfortabley. Everyone stepping off the plane reacted in more or less the same way. Cyclops wiped frost from his visor and scanned the area.

"This way." he said, pointing towards the frosted shore of a polluted lake. It stank of a sewer but was frozen over. Chiara pitied the fish.

They all began to follow him, one by one coming slowly to life and shuffling through the snow after their self-appointed leader. Chiara felt compelled to do the same, but her feet were sore and cold inside her boots, yet she followed all the same.

They made their way over the frozen ice, Cyclops and Kurt telling them where to step and where was thin. After they'd crossed, Storm made sure to sprinkle the lake surface with flakes of snow and ice, to cover their tracks.

Cyclops stopped suddenly as they reached the otherside. He looked at the small group through his visor and let out a half-crystalized sigh.

"You," he said, pointing at Twist.

"Me?" she asked, surprised. Cyclops nodded, point to Chiara.

"And You."

"Me?"

"And you Simon, Alyx." Cyclops continued, looking at all of them. He stopped and glanced at Mark, searching him for something. "And you too." he said, looking at Connor. "Connor." he said, including him too. Streak, Add and Khahara looked somewhat left out.

"What?" Simon said, frustrated. Cyclops walked up to him, standing a few inches taller.

"That's a nice accessory you have there." Cyclops said with an aire of sarcasm. He pointed a gloved finger at Simon's metallic blue eyebrow barbel.

"Oh...uh... thanks?" Simon said, touching it, almost protectively. Chiara laughed silently and folded her arms, wondering where it was going.

"Did it hurt?" Cyclops went on.

"No." Simon said confidently, laughing at the absurdity of something hurting him. Cyclops eyed him through the visor.

"Well it'll hurt when Magneto pulls it out of you with his mind and uses it as a metallic blue bullet to shoot you with." He said, the mererest hint of a smug smile tacing his lips. Simon looked confused. "Take it out." he said, before stepping back to his original position. Simon grumbled and then pulled off his gloves, pulling the barbell out of his eyebrow.

"The rest of you too." Cyclops said. Chiara sighed suddenly. Half of her earrings she hadn't taken out in years. The rest of them exchanged looks, but at the uneasiness of getting them ripped out of their skin they all began pulling their assorted earrings and barbells out.

Chiara rolled her eyes and began on her own. The industrial, the chain, the studs. She had more metal than a nuclear power plant. She stopped suddenly, removing the last cartiledge hoop, jangling the collection of earrings in her hand. She looked down at her stomach as Cyclops spoke again.

"I guess none of you have then in... other regions. That would hurt." He laughed. "Let's keep moving." Chiara felt a spasm of nausea at the thought of her bellybutton ring being ripped out of her.

"Uh..." she said quickly. Everyone looked at her. She felt herself go red.

"Got a secret, Chiara?" Twist tease. Chiara glared at her.

"What is it?" Cyclops asked.

"Um... I have a metal... item in my navel." she said hurridly.

"Ok. Take it out." Cyclops said.

"Uh... but I..." Chiara started. She felt Simon and Connor looking at her and threw them both glares. Cyclops gave her look of disbelief.

"If you want to keep it in you can. I can't guarantee it won't hurt." he said. Chiara shook her head. Twist was laughing at her silently. Streak through a handful of snow at her and she stopped. Chiara looked around.

Yuako and the others could be dead if she didn't do this quickly. Thankfully, she was still wearing that blessed halter top. She reached around the back of her uniform and tugged the zip downwards. She met Simon's eyes. He laughed quietly and looked at Add and Connor.

Mark was faithfully talking to Khahara, telling her something and not looking at Chiara.

"Come on guys." Connor said, glaring at Simon and Add. Cyclops glared at them also.

"You two. This isn't some peep show." he said. Chiara glowed with embarrassment again. Connor's eyes seemed to have become a more concentrated green. Simon and Add turned. Connor and the others followed suit.

Immediately, Chiara unzipped the back of her uniform, lifted the halter and pulled out the dragonfly decoration she'd had in since the beginning of the year. The air was icy cold, giving her goosebumps immediately. She zipped it back up and smiled silently.

"Okay. I'm done." she said.

"Thank you." Cyclops said as Ororo picked up all their old piercings. "Now, we continue." he said. The group began walking through the snow. Twist linked arms with her.

"I haven't laughed so hard in the last few weeks. Thank you." she giggled.

"I'm glad my pain makes you happy." Chiara sighed, laughing. She looked over at Connor, giving him a thankful smile which he returned.

"Dude." She heard Simon's voice say to him. "You suck."


	24. Doubles

Cyclops stopped after a few minutes. The kids following didn't seem to catch on straight away, but eventually, they do slowed to a halt. They were at the base of a hill. Cyclops looked back at Nightcrawler and Storm. There was a slight breeze and Kurt bamfed up to the top of the hill, gave some kind of shocked recoil and bamfed back.

"What is it?" Cyclops asked immediately.

"Ze warehouse." Kurt nodded. "Zey have some kind of truck, dropping of equipment." he said. Cyclops looked back at the group.

"Storm." he said. "You take these three." he said, seperating Khahara, Mark and Alyx to go with her. "Try and see what the truck was transferring. Kurt, what about exits?"

"One at ze back and one at ze side. Zere is one at the front, but the truck..." he said. Cyclops nodded again.

"Logan, you two take these two." he said, gesturing to Streak and Add. "Go in through the back." he said. He looked at Twist, Simon, Connor and Chiara. "You lot are coming with me." he said.

The groups seperated almost immediately. Chiara looked around, trying to shake the thought that they might never see each other again. It was worse that she was stuck with a love-triangle group like hers. She glanced over at Twist and Connor, seeing them talking together. Maybe it was a love square?

"Come on, you lot." Cyclops said. "This isn't social hour. You stick with the group. _Never_ get seperated." he warned. "Now let's go." he said, starting up the hill. The other four followed him.

The truck, it turned out, was facing away from them. A group of five or so men were distributing something into the building, which was making a sound almost like a factory. Quickly, Cyclops's group lost themselves in the trees and made their way towards the side door.

They slipped inside, surprised by their own agility and silence. As soon as they were inside, Simon's eyes began glow a vivd green in the almost darkness.

"They're downstairs... below the building. Yuako's... they know we're here." he said.

"Which way?" Cyclops said. Simon seemed to struggle under the concentration and the messages Yuako was sending him.

"Two floors down. There's a construction elevator fifty meters to our left, down the corridor." he said. Suddenly, the pressure seemed to ease off of him. He relaxed and his eyes stopped glowing, leaving them in the dark.

"What now?" Connor asked, closed to Chiara than she'd expected. "We need light."

"Chi?" Simon asked. What was with the pet name? Chiara thought. It instantly annoyed her.

"Just call me Tinkerbell." she sighed, reaching her hand forth and concentrating energy into it. To her plesant surprise a crackling spark appeared in her hand. She made a second on her other and grinned.

"Good. Let's get going." Cyclops said. Chiara nodded, feeling anxiety buzz around her stomach like butterflies.

Together they moved down the hall until a corridor was visible to the left and right. An intersection. They stared down the left and began walking. The passage seemed to stretch on forever.

Suddenly Chiara heard something in her mind.

"Someone's looking at us." Simon said into her mind. "Behind us." The other stirred, obviously having heard him too. Twist turned in a flash, immediately pushing a force of wind behind them. The ripped plaster came off the walls and the lighting fixtures shook. Chiara's sparks illuminated something. Silence's figure being catapulted back towards the door by Twist's power. Suddenly, she screamed.

"Silence!" Twist shouted.

"No! Keep moving!" Cyclops said. Simon and Connor grabbed the struggling Twist. hurrying down the corridor. Uneasily, Chiara followed in a run, trying to drown out Twist's cries of pain. She still didn't understand why they were running from Silence. And now the corridor was filled with a roaring wind.

The beams of light from the elevator interior were just ahead, illuminating the box which would be their haven. Cyclops hit the caller, trying to make the door open. Slowly, it did.

"In! Now!" Cyclops shouted. "I'll take care of this!" he said, pushing them all in. The elevator closed, blocking Cyclops from view.

"Is he insane!" Chiara shouted. "What the fuck is he doing?!"

"He's taking care of it, Chiara!" Simon said.

"Yeah, whatever that... thing was..." Connor added quietly. There was the noise of Cyclops shooting lasers. Suddenly, the elevator began to move.

"What the fuck is happening now?!" Chiara ejected again. Twist was still sobbing, Connor holding onto her. Simon shrugged, pushing her back, taking a place before the doors, waiting for whatever came through. The lift stopped with a shudder and the doors opened.

Nothing was there and there was a sudden silence hanging ominiously in the air. Simon stepped out, his boots loud on the floor. Suddenly, something leapt out in front of him, making him jump.

"Guys! There you are! I got lost when we came in!" a familiar voice called, stepping into the light from the dim bulb in the elevator. Chiara felt a frighted shudder course through her body.

The person who had appeared was suddenly flooded with light. It was her. Right down to the long black eyelashes.

Simon took a moment to realise what was happening. He looked back at Chiara over his shoulder, and then back at the one who'd just appeared. There was a moment of silence again.

"What the fuck is happening!?" he shouted suddenly.

"It's a double." Chiara said. "That's not me."

"Stop it!" the other shouted, frustrated. "Show yourself! Stop lying!"

"Wait, wait..!" Connor started but as he tried to calm the two Chiaras, one grabbed the other, wheeling them out into the corridor, slamming into a wall. One looked up, kicking into the elevator, making the doors slam. She looked back at the real Chiara who was trying to stand.

"I never thought I'd pretend to be anyone as weak as you." she smiled. Chiara coughed. She heard banging from the inside of the elevator. Her double looked behind her and then picked Chiara up by the collar.

"I want to make sure we're undisturbed here." she said, in Chiara's same throaty voice. She threw Chiara into one of the warehouse cubicles like a ragdoll and slammed the rolling door.

Chiara stood up, feeling nauseaous and bruised.

"You're Mistique." she croaked.

"Well. At least you're not stupid." her double smiled, folding her arms and looking more powerful than Chiara could have ever imagined herself seeming. "Or maybe you are. I mean, you've only been in the building a little more than two minutes, and already, you're screwed."

Chiara felt a surge of angry energy flooding through her. She pushed out, coming into contact with her opposer. Sparks flew. She felt hard punches to her shoulders, sparks zapping off her skin like drops of water.

There was kick to her stomach that she didn't expect. She flew across the cubicle, winded. She struggled to stand again, but her legs seemed to give way beneath her. The other Chiara began walking towards her, picking her up and throwing her against the wall. Chiara was surprising she'd made it this far. With new courage she raised herself to her shaking legs again. Immediately, the other Chiara struck her to the side with a pipe from the floor.

"Oh God. This is pathetic." she said, tossing the pipe back and forth between her hands. "If I gave you this would it help?" She threw the pipe to the ground, smiling. Chiara stood up again. She concentrated hard, sending electricity through her arms and into her hands. Palms filled with crackling sparks she leapt towards the next Chiara, punching her stomach, clawing at whatever she could.

She felt heavy with exhaustion and pain. She threw a kick, tossing Chiara into the opposite wall. She picked up the pipe, grimacing with pain.

"I don't need it."

"I know." her voice replied from the reflection lying against the wall. "You're strong." She stood up and threw herself at the other and they both crashed to the floor, only the pipe seperating the two of them from murdering each other.

"You're going to lose, Mistique."

"Don't call me that! You're know I'm the original. You're just trying to confuse me!" One of them grabbed the pipe, rolling to the side. They both stood, ready to come into contact with pain as she began swinging it back and forth.

Quick as a flash, the opposing one kicked her back against the wall, wrenching the pipe out of her hands and crashing it into her arm. The victim slumped against the wall, blood beginning to flow from the new wound in her arm.

The remaining Chiara threw the pipe into the corner, glanced around and then ran off into the maze of corridors.

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**Please don't flame this. One, I had writers block. Two, it's _supposed_ to be confusing... Thanks for your awesome comments. **


	25. Back At The Jet

Chiara fought to stay conscious. It hurt to keep her eyes open and oxygen in her lungs. It felt like her heart's last stand, that it would keep fighting for a little while longer before it would die, along with her. With every rapid beat, she felt new blood surface under the hand holding her arm. She pressed harder, trying to stop the bleeding, wondering how close she was to the bone.

She heard a noise, but could lift her head. If this was Mystique or Magneto, she'd be dead before she understood what was going on. Foggy shapes entered her field of vision.

"Chiara!" she heard. She knew the voice.

"Twist..." she tried to say, but all that came out was a inaudible murmur.

"Careful." she heard Cyclops say. "It could be a trick, or some mirage." he said. Someone was close to her, touching her face.

"She doesn't feel fake." Connor's voice said angrily, obviously replying to Cyclops. There was a pause. She tried to say something, but all that came out was a cough. Someone came up on her other side and pried her fingers away from the red wound. Someone touched her arm and she screamed out in pain.

"It's not broken." Cyclops said. "Just... hit a nerve." he said, taking his hand away.

"What did it?" Twist asked.

"It could have been anything." Cyclops sighed. "She looks tired. I don't know how long she's been here." Chiara heard the scraping of feet, someone getting up. "Simon, take her back to the plane. Give her something to help her sleep and bandage it up. Then follow this path and get back to us." he said. "Connor, Twist, you two will go on with me. We'll try and find the others." he commanded to the other two.

She felt Connor step away from her, and someone else tried to support her and stand her up. Her entire body ached, but she was too tired to cry out. She was safe now, she hoped. Now was time to give in. She closed her eyes, let her body limp, and pretended to be unconscious. That helped.

-----

Chiara opened her eyes and looked about. She didn't recognize the mesh-metal ceiling above her. She turned her head, to look at the room. She was in some kind of large closet, filled with military shelves and buckets and labeled boxes.

She sat up, wanting to get up and move. As soon as she did, pain rocketed down her left arm, blocking out her vision for a split second, and she screamed out. Simon was there in a flash.

"Are you okay?!" he asked. "What happened?" He placed a hand on her right shoulder. Bare shoulder. Chiara looked down. She was in that black halter and jeans again.

"You _undressed_ me?!" she turned on him. "You undressed m-"

"I didn't_ do_ anything, I swear!" Simon said. He stepped back, putting up his hands in defense as her eyes flickered a flourescent-blue. "Your uniform's ruined. I couldn't bandage you like that." He said, softer. Chiara opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again. She looked down at her arm.

The blood was cleaned away and now there was a clean white antiseptic bandage around her arm. It looked like she'd barely hurt herself. She cast Simon a grey glare again and moved off the medical bed and went out into the main cabin.

"The X-Jet?" she asked, looking around.

"That's what it is." Simon said, following her and stopping to lean against the door frame.

"How long was I asleep?" she asked, turning back to him. She noticed her hair was down again, not like she could tie it up again with just one hand. There was also a scratch along her forehead, she could feel it.

"About an hour." Simon said. He was reaching into pocket. Chiara watched him suspicious. He pulled out a bottle of pills and shook two into his hand and extended them to her. "Pain killer sleeping pills." he said. "Cyclops orders, so I can go back and help out."

"I don't want them." she said. Simon sighed, walking towards her. He took her hand and place them in her palm.

"You have to take them. The shit I gave you to take the pain off your arm will only last another hour. Then it will feel like your arm is on fire." he said. "I doubt you want that."

"I don't want to sleep." she said, prying her hand away and dropping the tablets on the floor. Simon glared at her. Bright green eyes stared into icy grey ones. He sighed, bent down and picked them up again.

"You'll thank me later." he said, going over to the sink at the back plane and running the water until it was cold and he ran it into a glass. Chiara bit her lip, annoying him had bought her time to think. She glanced down, and then looked back at him. Suddenly she smiled.

"It must have been hard to know that Cyclops chose you to come back here instead of the others." she said, looking sideways, trying to remember where the door was. Simon turned off the tap and looked back at her.

"What the fuck does that mean? He let Connor and Twist go on cause he needed backup." he asked. Chiara shrugged, finding that that hurt her shoulder. She moved towards him slightly.

"I dunno. I was just thinking. You're pretty powerful. But maybe Connor and Twist are just better than you." she said, looking fakely thoughtful.

"I doubt that." Simon said, reaching for the glass of water to give her.

"Or maybe your happy, because otherwise it would be Connor and me all alone in the plane together." Chiara said, looking at him, smiling slightly, close to him now. Simon stopped reaching for the cup and returned her smile.

"You don't seriously like that guy?" he said. Chiara looked up at him, eyes seductive. Simon was already taking advantage of the situation and putting his hands on her hips.

"You're cuter." she smiled, kissing him. She could tell that Simon was surprised, but immediately he began to kiss her back, tightening his arms around her small waist. She ran one hand up his chest behind his neck, the other reached for the glass of water on the counter behind him.

In one moment she crashed the glass into the side of his head. It splintered and broke in her hand, cutting her fingers, but there were more important things at stake. Simon fell to the floor.

Mistique dropped the base of the glass onto the floor, the only part that hadn't shattered. She wiped her mouth on the back of her hand and looked at the unconscious boy at her feet.

"Hormones..." she spat in disgust. A few minutes later, after searching the plane, she took both his hands and dragged him out of the jet and across the ice towards the warehouse.

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**Note**: Well that was the next exciting installment... I am SOOOO sorry it took so long, I was in an uninspired state XP More will be coming soon!  



	26. No Way Out

Chiara tried to open her eyes, feeling her lids heavy. She didn't quite know where she was, and she couldn't remember anything. For a moment, she thought it was just a regular school day, and Yuako was waking her up.

Then the world before her swum into focus, and she remembered what had happened. They seemed to be in some kind of lab. There was a metal table top in the center of the room and several shelves of beakers and antiseptics near the walls. She'd injured Mystique. She'd run, straight into Pyro, tried to defend herself, and been knocked out.

Something was strange, why was she standing up? She tried to glance down, but something was holding her neck straight against the metal wall. She couldn't move her arms or legs either. She realized, looking about as much as she could, that she wasn't the only one in the situation. All around her, all of them were there.

Yuako was directly across the room from her, her arms and legs held against a metal wall with strips of steel. Chiara could tell just by looking at her that she was fighting with her psychic powers to pry away the strips. Tears of concentration and pain wet her cheeks.

Lucea was next to her, looking solemn and angry at the same time. Chiara would not have recognized her if it were not for a beautiful lavender purple hair. With all her piercings removed she looked like a different person all together. For some reason she was not attempting to escape the bands holding her to the wall. Next to her was Cat. Chiara felt as though she was going to cry, just by looking at her. Cat seemed so distraught, trying to change and escape. She looked pained and injured. Chiara didn't have to look further to tell that they had all been captured.

"Miss. Myste." came a low, stony voice from the opposite side of the room. "Good to see you've finally joined us." An man entered the room from the other side of a wall. He seemed old. His hair was grey and his face was aged from many years of pain and confusion. Yet he had a muscular posture, and carried himself like a king. He was dressed in black, with gloves and boots and a belt of metal and leather. She had no doubt that this was Magneto. The one they all feared. Chiara glared at him at best she could without passing out again. Magneto stared back at her before he laughed.

"Teenagers these days." He smiled. "When I was your age, I was living on doorsteps in Switzerland in the war." he said, shaking his head somewhat. "Now if we can just wait for Mr. Erikson to wake up, we can begin." he said, turning and going back behind the wall to whatever he'd been doing before. Chiara let her head droop, hoping that Simon didn't wake up soon. How were they going to get out of this?

She managed to turn her head to the side to try and see who was beside her. It was Gaudi, he was staring across the room as if he were sleeping with his eyes open, his silver blond hair tied back as usual.

"Gaudi?" she whispered. "Gaudi?" He moved suddenly, trying to look at her.

"What?"

"Can't you move out of the bindings?" she asked. Gaudi frowned.

"He's done something to shut off our powers." he said weakly. "The guy's sick."

"We came to get you back, we can get out of this." Chiara said, trying to reassure him and herself at the same time.

"I don't know what's happened to Logan and Storm. We saw them briefly, they tried to save us, but we got caught when Twist and that Connor guy came with Cyclops. Cyclops got separated... this place is a mess of tunnels." Gaudi whispered back. "I hope you've got a plan, cause I don't."

"I'm working on it." Chiara said, thinking hard, but there was nothing she could come up with for them to escape. Beside her she heard someone stir. She looked the other way, seeing Simon, just waking up.

"What the fuck happened?" she heard him groan.

"Mr. Erikson." said Magneto's voice again as he came back into the room. "Good, now we can start."

"Who the fuck are you?" Simon asked, trying to lift his head.

"I'm the bad guy." Magneto smiled, folding his arms. Simon looked at him, then half-fainted. It seemed to take him too much effort. Magneto laughed slightly and turned around.

"Miss. Chanda. There is no way you are going to get out of there, please stop trying." he said, going towards her. Yuako looked at him with tear filled eyes.

"_Mo goei_." she said, weak.

"Why do you want us?" someone said finally. It was Lucea who spoke, her voice was strong and unwavering. She looked at Magneto without fear.

"Oh that's right, you don't know, do you Miss. Windle?" Magneto said. "Each of you has your own specific power." he smiled. "You, Lucea, have the power to move tectonic plates. Who wouldn't I kill for a power like that?" he asked, illustrating his own mutation, power over metal. He clenched his gloved hands, tightened the bar around Lucea's throat until she began to struggle.

"Stop! You're killing her!" Gaudi shouted from beside Chiara, the other side of the room. Magneto stopped and looked over one shoulder. A childish smile sprang to his lips.

"There's not much you can do to save her. You're all the way over there and you can't use your powers. You can't walk through walls, Geist." he said to Gaudi. "Maybe you'd try a little harder if your sister was at stake as well." he took a few steps over towards Alyx, who looked suddenly much more fearful.

"Don't." Gaudi warned him. Magneto didn't listen, instead he tightened the strip of iron around Alyx's neck too. Alyx looked pained. She wasn't choking, or starved of air, yet. "Let them go!" Gaudi shouted.

"No, Mr. Von Goeth!" Magneto shouted, crossing the room. "I'm afraid that is not an option for them!" he brought back a fist and punch Gaudi hard in the stomach. Gaudi recoiled, straining against the pain. Across the room Lucea started to cry. Magneto shook his hand, stepping away from Gaudi with a satisfied look. "You're all weak." he said. Suddenly his attention was caught, by Simon.

"Except for you Mr. Erikson. You could have showed some potential." he said, going over.

"What the fuck does that mean?" Simon said, glaring up at him now, having recovered slightly.

"You don't really care about anyone, except for yourself." he smiled. "Miss. Chanda tried to do the same thing, but she's born to love people. But you are different." he said. Simon seemed confused, but Chiara saw that he understood something Magneto was saying.

"You could be great, if you sided with the Acolytes." Magneto said, looking hopeful. Simon gave him a look of disgust.

"I'd never side with you!" he said. Magneto sighed.

"Obviously I was wrong." he said finally to him, going back to the middle of the room. "You're affections for each other make you weak." he announced to all of them. "Human emotion will be the downfall of their race. You all think it's so heroic to save each other's lives, when each of us doesn't really matter." he said, glancing around. "The only way to really be a hero, is to make yourself matter. That's what I will do to all of you! Make you heroes! Take the most powerful parts of you and make the most powerful mutant in creation." he said.

"So you won't kill us?" Chiara asked, catching his attention. She had to stop his speech, she could see how much pain it was causing.

"Kill you?" Magneto asked.

"You just need our DNA, then you'll let us go?" she asked. Magneto looked at her in disbelief, and then smiled.

"Miss. Myste, do you have any idea what you are?" he asked, going to stand in front of her. "Apart from being the only daughter of a multimillionaire psychopath and a fairly annoying contribution to the human race?" Chiara kept her face straight and stayed silent.

"You," Magneto began, "are something that mankind has been unable to create in 130,000 years of existence. You are a self-run electric machine. You run on electricity. You're scarcely even human. And do you know where all your power comes from?"

Chiara looked back at him. She had a faint view of what he was saying, but she didn't want to hear it. Finding out she wasn't really all that human was the last thing she wanted to know.

"You're heart." Magneto said. "That means, that if you want to walk out of here alive, it's going to be without your heart. I don't think that works." he said. "I'll have to take every psychic's brain, every shapeshifter's blood. The only one of you who I think could still live after what you're about to go through would be Mr. Larson, I only have to take his eyes." Chiara glanced over, finding Connor looking at her part way across the room. She felt stupid suddenly. Magneto's face looked cold and unemotionless.

"I think that that is enough questions." he said. In one quick motion he had left the room and turned out the lights and they were in darkness. For a moment, Chiara thought about saying something, but the silence that hung in the air was angry and it was painful. She sighed slightly, breathing lightly and began to think for a way to escape again.

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**Note:** Well yay! Two chappers in two days... the rest is on the way people! Now I have homework to do! 


	27. Sparks and Metal

They stayed, trapped in the dark for a long time. The silence ached in Chiara's ears, she wished someone would say something. She wished she could move. She tried again and again to spark one of her fingers, only finding that what Gaudi had said was correct. As much as she tried, she could catch no electric current running through her veins.

She felt weak and tired. She swum in and out of sleep, feeling like she was going to be sick. She wished that maybe, she could just die instead. She couldn't hear anything outside the room. No sign that Magneto had returned, or that there was anyone else in the room.

After what felt, and had probably been, hours, the lights flicked on, dim, but still blinding in comparison to the darkness. In the visibility that had followed, she could see everyone of her fellow mutants look up, surprised and shaken. Immediately the lights went out again. Then on. Then they continued to flicker.

"What's going on?" she heard Khahara said, her white eyes frightening in the intermittent light. She got no answer, but Chiara doubted she had expected one. There was the sound of struggle somewhere in the warehouse and the sounds of bullets bouncing off the walls. In the pause that followed, they all struggled to get free again.

Suddenly, something caught Chiara's eye and she looked over. It was Cat. She was changing, rapidly. Her hair grew long, short, curled, straight, bobbed, shagged, blonde, black, pink, blue. Her features changed as she struggled against the bonds. In a split second she was free and she fell onto the ground in front of her and scrambled to her feet.

"Cat!" she heard someone shout, but it was too distressed to make out who it was. Suddenly, there was the noise of power dying and then there was a silence. Chiara felt the metal strips peel away from her skin and she fell, somewhat clumsily, into someone's arms.

"What the hell?" she croaked, unaware her throat was so dry.

"Don't worry." Simon said. "The power got shut down... Magneto's barrier against our powers is useless." He supported her for a moment, then held her. Chiara pushed herself away, somewhat surprised.

"Anyone else need help?" she heard Yuako's voice say, closer to her than she'd expected.

"Yeah, anyone? Please?" Lucea's voice said. "And some light might be useful." Someone moved across the room to help her and she heard the others try to search for some light source in the room. Flexing her fingers, she created sparks on her hands, loving the feeling of using her power again.

Immediately the room was illuminated. They all stood together in a huddle, faces confused and relieved. The noises of struggle continued outside.

"Good." Simon said, as Gaudi and Lucea appeared. "Let's get out of here." he said. Chiara could sense the air of agreement in the group. "Who was concious when they brought us in?" There was silence. Yuako's eyes went purple.

"No need to find out." she smiled, as there was a sudden crash and then a scream of metal on metal from the direction of the door. It burst open, showing the dim features of Wolverine, followed by Storm and Cyclops.

"Let's go!" Wolverine said. His claws were out, long, silvery and glittering with blood. In a split second they were all running for the doorway. They didn't need an explanation yet. The only thought on their minds was to get out of the danger of the warehouse.

They ran down a echoing tunnel and hit a fork. Without thinking they seperated, Cyclops going down the other side with a group of students. Chiara felt a cool hand grip hers as they ran. It was Yuako's. Suddenly, a trio of gunmen appeared. They skidded to a stop and sprinted in the other direction. There was the sound of bullets being shot, but they never reached the feet of the retreating mutants, obviously hit off course by the psychics in the group.

They ran down the other side of the fork, following Cyclops's group into the dark distance. As she ran, Chiara felt the metal plates against the wall shivering against each other. All of a sudden, a plate flew from the wall, catching under her feet. For a moment she slid on it, trying to move, but she tripped and fell to the ground. In a fearful moment se looked over one shoulder, seeing the sillohette of a tall, helmeted man, coming down the passage.

She turned at her head to scream at the others to stop, but they were still running. The metal plates from the walls were piling up, creating a barrier that she could get through. As she tried to get up, a strong hand found her throat, throwing her against the wall.

She looked up into Magneto's paling blue eyes in fear. This was the end. She was sure. She closed her eyes and let loose the power that she had left in her body. She felt Magneto's hand tighten, then retract, and heard him cry out in anguish and let go. He fell to the ground, twitching with pain until he went unconcious.

Chiara stood coughing for a moment. There was the sound of clanging footsteps and then she heard the blessed sound of her name.

"Chiara!?" She knew the voice, and she went on instinct that it was not Mystique.

"Connor!" she shouted back in response. She heard him pounding on the metal wall.

"I can't get through!" he shouted back. Chiara searched her mind for an idea.

"Wait. Stand back!" she warned, creating a field of sparks easily on her hand. She threw them into the air above the metal wall, pleased that they stayed in place. She stretched her arms out to the side, feeling the electric energy now pulsing in the room. Slowly, but gradually, she lifted herself into the air and across the metal barrier. Suddenly she fell, unable to keep herself up and more, but Connor caught her.

"Thanks." she said, getting to her feet.

"Don't worry." he said. "I want to know how you did that, but for now, let's get out of here. This passage leads to stairs." he said. He gave her a short smile, then took her hand and together they ran through the corridor.

They reached the steep staircase which crossed back and forth as it got higher, but they went up. The higher they got, Chiara noticed the light was getting clearer and her breath was making a white puff in the air when she exhaled.

There was a window, and a door at the top and it was considerabley colder. Connor pushed the door open and skidded onto the ice outside that had formed there. The sun was coming up, turning the sky a angry, pinkish-grey. The frozen lake stretched out ahead of them.

"Come on." Connor said, stretching his hand out to her and helping her down the ice. They ran, slipping somewhat, over the frozen water and then they could see the X-Jet.

The engine was on, and it was lifting off the ground, the ramp still down. Connor sprinted to the base of the plane, grabbing the ramp. Chiara followed him, realising the urgency.

"Come on now." said Logan's gruff voice. He reached down and pulled Chiara into the jet, then Connor after her. In the few moments of dizzyness that followed, she felt someone scream her name in joy and hug her. It was Yuako.


	28. On Return

The plane ride home was not nearly as spirited as Chiara would have hoped. It was like an elongated sigh of relief that lasted nearly four hours.

Twist and Silence sat together in a middle seat, his arms around her, talking, kissing each other lightly sometimes. Lucea and Gaudi were sitting across the aisle from each other, each with their feet up on the seat beside, trying to sleep, or just looking at each other, not all over each other for once. Cat was sitting with Streak and Alyx. They looked like they were having some kind of forced coversation when really, they were just happy to see each other.

Mark was in the back with Khahara, Storm and Silence. His lip had been split from a punch thrown by one of Magneto's lackeys. Simon had cuts in the side of his head, and Khahara had been punched hard in the stomach. Running, she'd twisted her ankle and hurt it badly by continuing to get to the plane. Gaudi had decided to not get help for his bruised stomach muscles.

Despite the fact that she was a little sore from getting beaten up by Mystique and being in shackles and their was a pain in her shin, Chiara was lucky not to be injured. The majority of them were studded with cuts and bruises, but nothing serious. She glanced over one shoulder at Yuako who was sleeping in the seat next to her. She was wrapped in a dark wool safety blanket and her long black hair was tied back from her pretty face. Chiara sighed and got up to look down the passage. Cyclops was piloting, as usual, Wolverine and Nightcrawler sat nearby.

She walked down the aisle, wondering why her foot hurt so much, it was almost making her limp, but the pain was bearable. She sat down in a random seat and pulled up her trouser leg to see if there was any damage.

There was a long line of thick red blood across the front of her ankle, probably from the metal plates that had skidded under her feet. She sighed, frustrated, and looked across the aisle. Connor was looking at her from where he sat in the opposite seat, his green eyes concerned. In her worry about her foot, she'd not seen him there.

"We'd better get that bandaged." he said.

"It's fine. I'll live." Chiara said, rolling the leg of her pants back down. They were dressed in what they'd worn before now, only donned in the Institutes jackets and blankets.

"You sure? It's deep." he said, reluctant. There was a pause. The only sound was the rattling of the plane as it made it's way over the US.

"Thanks for coming back for me. I probably would've panicked if you hadn't." she smiled slightly at him.

"I think you handled yourself pretty well." he smiled back, kindly. Chiara felt herself beginning to blush again.

"I'll be right back." she said, excusing herself. She got up and went towards the back of the plane and into the medic cabin. Storm was writing something on a clipboard. Mark and Khahara were sleeping, curled in blankets on one of the benches against the wall. Simon was sitting, leaning against the side of the plane, pressing an ice bag to the side of his head.

Storm looked up as Chiara went in.

"Do you need help?" she asked. Chiara shook her head. "I'll be back in a moment then." Storm smiled and moved past her out into the rest of the plane. There was a silence where all she heard was the sound of the plane.

She went over to Simon, idley kicking his shoe.

"You okay?" she asked. Simon glanced up at her and gave her a look of disbelief. She shrugged slightly in response.

"Confused." Simon said finally.

"About?"

"What happened." he said. He stopped, glancing at her again, again strangely. "How's your arm?"

"My arm?" she asked, slipping part of the jacket to look at her shoulder, confused. "It's... armish." she said.

"But... you..." he said, then gave an anguished look.

"Maybe Mystique hit your head a little too hard..." Chiara smiled, trying to make him feel better. Simon tossed the ice bag aside, angry at her suddenly.

"Mystique?!" he asked, frustrated. "What the hell are you talking about! You were there..! I brought you back here and we-" he began.

"Simon..." Chiara tried to say. "I fought with my double... Mystique. I hit her across the arm with a pipe... and I ran..." she said, slowing as her mind came to grips with what had happened. She realised now what Simon was implying. "God, no..." she said, quiet. It was a stretch of the imagination to think that Mystique may have seduced Simon, even for her.

"Mystique." he repeated again in disgust. "No wonder you were acting so weird..."

"It wasn't me. Are we getting the fact that you made out with a shape-shifter yet?!" Chiara said. She felt violated, even if not directly. "I can't believe you'd even try that!"

"As far as I remember, you were the one who kissed me!"

"It wasn't me!" she shouted again, aggravated. "It was you and your bloated ego!"

"It fucking well seemed like you! And I..." he tried again, failing to come up with a comeback.

Chiara shook her head, not sure whether to be angry or disgusted. He'd taken advantage of her... even if it wasn't... her... just looked like her. She was thinking herself into a whole. The entire thing just disgusted her. Simon was typical. She shouldn't have expected anything less.

Storm came back into the cabin with the clatter of heels on metal. She glanced at Chiara and the fuming Simon.

"Sit back down." she told him, giving him the ice-pack back. "Chiara." she said, and the dark-haired teenager looked up. "I don't even want to know. Just go back to your seat."

Gladly, Chiara stormed back out. Everyone was looking back at the medic cabin, heads peering over seats, wondering what all the noise was about. Chiara sunk into her seat, folding her arms across her chest.

"What happen-" Yuako started yawning.

"Don't ask." Chiara cut her off. "Just be quiet and go back to sleep." Yuako looked at her for a moment, sensing her aggravation, then she took Chiara's advice and pulled the blanket back over her and went back to sleeping.

---

Note: And I doubt the drama stops there... lmao. More is on the way... it's almost over, but there is more intrigue ahead!


End file.
